13th Street
by Dear Rosie
Summary: Who said 13 wasn't a lucky number? It seems that way, but these four college students may find out that 13 is the luckiest number ever - if they play their cards right. Gray & Erza, Natsu & Lucy. AU.
1. Brand New Deck

Hello, reader!

This is my new on-going chapter fic! It's my first Fairy Tail one (and the first thing I've written that'll have more than one chapter that's not a Pokemon fic, lol). It's also the first chapter fic I've started since September. Man, I've improved since then.

Anyway, this story will be GrayxErza and NatsuxLucy! Yay! Right now it's just NaLu. GrayZa won't come in for another chapter or two. But I mostly wrote this as I saw there aren't a whole ton of GrayZa chapter fics, and to satisfy my desire to write an AU story that takes place in the real world. I've always wanted to do an AU! ^^  
And just because I'm doing this story doesn't mean I'll drop my other ones. The next chapters of them are in the works. Oh, and if you like Pokemon, you should check out my stuff. x3

And here's a promise: I _will_ do a GrayZa rant in an author's at some point in the story. xD

I previewed this story in my one-shot _Butterflies and Mutual Density_. Now, the scene there doesn't happen in this chapter, but it'll come around later in the fic.

Disclaimer: Now, I don't really get the point of these. If I owned Fairy Tail, why would I be writing on **_Fanfiction_**? It just doesn't make sense.  
Haha, that was just for fun. x3 (This is why I should not post at 12:30 in the morning)

Anyway, reader, get on with your reading!

Enjoy~!  
-xxGlassRose :)

* * *

~13th Street, Chapter One: Brand New Deck~

13.

A number that has been synonymous with misfortune for decades. But then again: Who said 13 wasn't a lucky number?

…

Lucy unfolded the map as the cab whizzed through the streets. She'd want to see the campus as soon as she could, so presently, her plans consisted of scoping out her new apartment, putting down all her bags, and heading over to the college she would now be attending. True, it was rare for people to transfer after the school year had started, but Lucy's grades were more than good enough to do so.

And so she did-arriving in a new place would be good for her. No one knew her here; no one knew her past. It was like starting over, a clean slate. And Lucy couldn't be happier about it.

Rain falling on the asphalt created and monotonic drone and pedestrians sought cover along the sides of the street to escape the sudden downpour. Looking on, Lucy made some mental notes about the street. Having no car, it would be a good idea for her to know where to go for shopping, groceries, and such.

The taxi made a sharp turn onto the road where the apartment complex was located. Lucy barely caught sight of the signpost, but she knew what it read: 13th Street.

Lucy opened her violet umbrella before stepping out of the car and proceeded to carry her luggage one by one to the covered area in front of the double doors. After she had paid the driver, Lucy found assistance in a man who came from inside the building. Stepping back, she took a good look at the building.

"Richardson Plaza," she said to herself, reading the sizable letters mounted on the edifice. "Looks like this is my new home." And with that, Lucy went inside.

"Apartment 413," the man at the front desk said as he handed Lucy her key.

"Thank you!"

Lucy pushed the luggage cart along the hall, looking for the right residence. The wheels made a _ka-chink, ka-chink _sound as they rolled over the cherry floor boards. The Richardson Plaza was certainly a nice place.

"413, 413... Ah, here!" She stuck her key in the door and turned, then tried to open it. But for some reason, the door refused to give way. The blonde was getting mad. She grabbed the knob angrily and fidgeted with it to no avail.

"Why… won't… you… just… open?" she asked between knocks on the stubborn piece of wood. The door creaked, then opened. And a girl with bright red hair who looked about Lucy's age stood in it.

"Are you trying to break into my apartment?" she asked seriously. Lucy tilted her head to the side.

"This is my apartment. 413." The other girl narrowed her eyes.

"That's next door." Lucy stepped back and looked at the plate next to the door she was pounding on. Apparently, the plates that told the numbers were on the left side of the doors, not the right.

"Ohhhh. Sorry about that!" She sheepishly rubbed the back of her head and smiled as the redhead slowly nodded and closed the door. "Man, that was an embarrassing way to meet your neighbor…" mumbled Lucy, now pushing the cart through the _correct_ doorway.

Hailing a taxi seemed to be a pointless effort; Magnolia University was a mere three blocks away, shedding light on Lucy's motives behind picking her apartment. College was within easy walking distance, along with a bevy of stores in which Lucy could probably shop to her heart's content, if her budget allowed.

So now, Lucy Heartfilia, along with her purple umbrella, strolled along the lengthy strip of road known as 13th Street. It was a quiet walk, which consisted of Lucy taking in the area and peeking at her map simply to make sure she wasn't going the wrong way. The town was nice and urban, consisting of many people Lucy's age, most likely due to the nearby college. That was a good thing-because of that, she would probably not have a hard time finding friends.

Magnolia University was a large, stately, brick building with smaller ones on either side. The main building had a clock tower standing over the college. It looked liked a classic school, not one of those more modern ones with locations scattered all about a city. That was good; it meant that the likelihood was that Lucy would have all her classes in one building, and if not, she wouldn't need to walk far.

After receiving directions from a few students, Lucy made her way to the dean's office. She pushed open the door slightly. Someone was in there talking to the dean, and it sounded as if they were in trouble.

"Natsu, I'm sorry, but setting one of the chemistry lab's shelves on fire is simply not acceptable," was heard as the girl was trying to decide whether she should obtrude.

"But Dean Johnson, it was so cool!" a salmon-haired boy who looked about Lucy's age cheered, standing from his chair and pumping a fist. "You should've seen it! I was holding the tube and sparks flew out and-"

"Listen, I don't care if you were working on the assignment. You can't just-" The dean looked up and saw Lucy peeking in the doorway. "Hello, there."

"H-hello," she nervously stuttered, opening the door fully. "I'm Lucy Heartfilia, the transfer student."

"Ah, yes!" The man stood from his chair and walked over to Lucy. "I'm Dean Johnson. Nice to meet you. I assume you would like to see the campus?" Lucy nodded.

"Yes please!"

"Well, I've got work to attend to here so… Mr. Dragneel! Would you do me the favor of showing this girl around our school?"

"But it's going to be lunch soon!"

"You can take her with you." Natsu stood from his chair and walked to the others.

"Hey, I'm Natsu Dragneel," he introduced, holding out his hand for the girl to shake. She did so then said,

"Nice to meet you! I'm Lucy."

"Well, you wanna get on with this?" She nodded and then headed out the door and down the hallway.

"And this right here is the chemistry lab. And the reason I got in trouble…" Natsu said, stopping in front of what seemed like the millionth classroom on this tour of the school and shoving his hands in his pockets.

"What did you do?"

"Set a bookshelf on fire. Look." Natsu pointed to a shelf in the classroom with char marks and a good portion of the top missing. "I don't think it was a big deal, but the dean's going to add the cost of it to my tuition. Which means I'll have less free cash," he sighed.

"Maybe you could find work somewhere to get a little extra," suggested Lucy.

"I already work. And two jobs would be just about impossible. My grades would tank." The boy crossed his arms behind his head. "You wanna go get lunch or something?"

"_That came out of the left field… I just met this guy and he's asking me to lunch," _she thought. "Um, don't you have a class or something?"

"Lunch hour's gonna start soon. Besides, it doesn't really matter if I miss a day of class. I was in the dean's office anyway. So are you in or what?" he asked, sudden intensity in his voice.

"Uh, yeah! Why not?"

"Do you know where you want to go?" Lucy asked as she pushed open the front door of her new school and walked down the gray steps.

"There are some good places along this street." The two turned the nearest corner. "13th Street is the main street that runs through this city. You can find just about anything on it. Come on!" Natsu grabbed Lucy by the wrist and began running while the girl frantically pressed the hat she was wearing onto her head.

"Wh-why are you pulling m-me so fast!" she shrieked, hoping passersby wouldn't notice the duo or at least wouldn't care. Natsu turned around and flashed a smile; a smile that was so incredibly warm, the blonde thought she just might melt; a smile so contagious, she couldn't help but find one on her own face.

"Because it's fun!"

Lucy stopped questioning him.

The two went to a local Chick-fil-A. Nothing fancy; neither of them wanted something like that. Just a place to get something good and satisfying before heading back to school. If they would go back. Natsu was seriously contemplating going home to take a nice, long nap or something of the sort.

Lucy tilted the straw towards her mouth and slurped with all her might; it probably would have been a better idea to get a spoon. Her milkshake was too thick for the meager tube of plastic she had placed in it. But at the same time, it was too good not to attempt to drink the milkshake.

So Lucy was fairly absorbed in her treat, and Natsu was thoroughly absorbed in the three chicken sandwiches he had bought for himself.

"_No wonder this guy needs extra cash," _Lucy told herself as she watched Natsu scarf down food. _"It's almost like he's never eaten food before." _The girl let out a small giggle and grinned.

"What are you looking at me for?"

"Eh?" The blonde stiffened, a look of confusion and slight disbelief on her face. He stared at her for a few more seconds, then turned back to his food.

"Weird," Natsu muttered under his breath. Lucy now stared at him in full disbelief.

"_He thinks _I'm_ weird? He's the weird one! I mean really, who eats that much food so quickly?" _Her face was now turning red from embarrassment, yet the cause of it was unknown. "_What's with me?" _she inwardly screamed. The best thing would be to shake it off and start a conversation.

"So, you're a freshman this year, right?" He simply nodded. Lucy had been expecting more of a response, more than the small nod he had given her. But that confirmed her question either way. So far she knew that Natsu was a college freshman at Magnolia University, had a job somewhere, and liked food. Not much. "I need a job myself…" Lucy thought out loud. Natsu perked up.

"You said that you need a job?" he questioned, standing up and pressing his hands down on the table.

"Uh, yeah!" Lucy said, a nervous smile on her face. "Do you know a good place to work?"

"Do I?" He chuckled, a wide smirk on his face. "I happen to work at the best place ever!"

"And where might that be?"

"Come on!"

Within the next few minutes, Natsu and Lucy had left the restaurant and were rushing through the crowds again, Lucy holding onto her hat again and Natsu leading the way.

He skidded to a halt right in front of a building with brightly colored flags mounted on the front. From what Lucy could tell, it was coffee shop.

"Here we are!" he announced. Lucy's face widened into a smile. "Fairy Tail!"

* * *

CFA ftw. xD Love that place! And yes, Fairy Tail is a coffee shop in this story.  
Anway, the next chapter will be up at some point, I'm just not sure when. But it will be! And there will be GrayZa in the future!


	2. Got the Job!

Yesh! New chappie! I got a bunch of reviews and that makes me want to write more, haha.

A few things about the story:  
Well, you guys know how the number 13 is important to this story. Another important theme is playing cards. You'll see a lot of those in the future in chapter titles, the plot itself, and other forms of symbolism. Also, luck is another sub-theme. :)

There's something else I know I wanted tp say but I don't remember what it is. Lol

Enjoy~!  
-xxGlassRose :)

* * *

~13th Street, Chapter Two: Got the Job!~

_So, Mama, I sent in my application to work at Fairy Tail today. It's just such a nice place with a great atmosphere! I can't wait to start working! Apparently, they're a little short on hands at the shop so I'm a shoo-in for the job. Natsu, that boy who told me about it, has taken me there a few times. He's been pretty nice to me; he's helped me find a job and been my first friend at school, which is really nice since I don't know anyone else yet. And since we're only freshmen and haven't really worked out our majors, we have a lot of our classes together. But we have the dean to thank for that. He put our classes together so I would know someone. The dean sure is nice to me. I wonder if he knows about Dad? He might. That would explain the treatment I've been getting. If he knows where I come from… I hope he doesn't. I ran away to leave all of my past. And if it weren't for the college money Dad had given me in advance, I wouldn't have been able to leave! Ugh, this is so confusing!_

_Oh well, I'm rambling. Mom, I'll talk to you later._

_From your loving daughter,_

_Lucy_

Lucy sealed the letter and placed it in the small brown box on her desk. She had called the storage unit just a few days before to have her furniture delivered, and ever since then, her apartment had livened up greatly and gained that lived-in feeling. The personalization factor was something she thoroughly enjoyed. It was, in a way, stamping the place with one's own seal and thus making it home.

"It feels a little bit better than home here," she whispered to herself.

Natsu sank into his chair and turned on his iPad to take notes. They would have a test on this material, he knew it in his bones. Literature had never been his subject, and as far as he was concerned, it never would be. And even if they would have a test, the sooner the boy could get out of the class, the better. He leaned over toward the seat next to him and murmured.

"Hey, Luce, you wanna bail? I'm already bored of this lecture."

"Are you kidding?" the girl exclaimed as she excitedly typed away on her laptop. "I've never been so engaged in a class in my life!" He cocked an eyebrow and gave her a confused look.

"You actually _like_ this stuff?"

"Shakespeare may be a popular author, but he deserves it. I mean, really! He changed the world of writing forever and introduced tons of words into the English language! Isn't that so cool?"

"I think your 'cool' is a bit different than mine."

"Whatever," Lucy remarked, pushing her reading glasses up. "I'm going to _enjoy_ learning something." Natsu gave up. She was just no fun.

"But I'm about to die of hunger!" complained a salmon-haired boy as he trailed behind his relatively new friend. She had just said that there was something she wanted to do before going to lunch. But what could be more important than lunch?

"You're always about to die of hunger!" Lucy looked behind at the limp mass of Natsu and frowned. "You know, you don't have to come with me. Just go get something to eat with some of your other friends, okay?" She turned around and began to continue down the hall when a hand grabbed her shoulder.

"Hey… I can hold out for a little while." This earned a smile from the blonde. "So, what do you want to do anyway?"

"I actually wanted to walk around the park next to the university. I've never been there before." Natsu's brain suddenly had an idea.

"How about this?" She turned to face him. "New plan: you head over to the park, look around a little, and then come to the bridge at the center. I'll go get us something quick and meet you there!"

"Sounds good!" He took off down the hallway, skid around a corner, almost crashing into a couple of people, and kept going. Lucy giggled at his antics. Yes, she was surely going to the park.

Leaves crunched under black boots as Lucy walked down one of the park's many trails.

"I can't believe it's already October…" she mumbled to herself. "Everything here looks so gorgeous."

"I'll say…" went a voice behind her. The girl whipped around to find none other than Natsu holding a bag of food in his hands.

"When did you get here?" she asked, surprised.

"Just now. I was heading over to the bridge when I saw you." He smiled. "So, do you like it?"

"I love it. This place is really amazing." Lucy took another minute to take in all the sights.

"Let's go towards the bridge." He slipped his hand in hers and led her towards the center of the park, but not without Lucy complaining that he was walking too fast.

The bridge was a stately, large stone structure in the middle of the park. There was nothing under it; it was for decoration alone. And indeed was it decorative.

The two sat on the edge of the bridge, legs dangling over the edge, and ate. Lucy laughed hysterically when a bird came and stole one of Natsu's French fries, causing him to yell at it irately and demand that the bird bring his food back right now.

"Get back here!" he shouted as he stood up on the thick stone railing of the bridge. "I wanted to eat that!" The bird simply fluttered in place for a moment, then flew off. Natsu sat down, sulking a little.

"Come on, it's just a French fry. You'll live."

"But I wanted to eat it," he pouted, shoulders slumped over. Lucy fell into another spurt of giggles.

There was something about Natsu's presence that made her feel warm inside. He was friendly, nice, and crazy, but in a very entertaining way.

Lucy collapsed on her bed. She had just taken a shower, was in her fuzzy pajama pants, and could not wait to get to bed. College could be so stressful sometimes.

Just as she had put her book down on the shelf, set her alarm, turned out the lamp, and gotten into bed, ready to sleep,

"RIIIIINGG!" The restless blonde angrily picked up her phone.

"Hello?" she said irritably.

"Lucy!"

"Natsu? What are you calling me for? And how did you get my number?"

"Never mind that! I've got news!" She was a bit annoyed that the boy had her phone number for some unknown reason and would not tell her what it was, and that said boy was calling her at 10:30 the night she was looking forward to going to bed early to get some more rest. But she responded nonetheless.

"What's your news?"

"You've got the job!"

"I what?" Lucy yelled into the phone.

"I talked to Mr. Makarov, the owner of Fairy Tail. He liked your application and you start Friday!" Natsu smiled, anticipating a positive reaction.

"Oh my goodness!" she exclaimed.

"He said he'd call you, but I wanted to be the first to break the news. I'm just sorry I couldn't call you right away, though." Lucy blushed a little.

"Aww, Natsu, that's sweet of you." He nervously scratched the back of his head, somewhat glad that he wasn't talking to her in person.

"Uh, no prob."

"On Friday, we're going to be co-workers… Are you excited?"

"Can't wait," he said, a large grin on his face. "So, um, I'll talk to you later, okay?"

"Okay. Bye."

"'Night, Luce." Lucy hit the "end call" button and couldn't help but smile.

"Yes," she quietly cheered.

Natsu pulled out the chair for Lucy to sit down. She gave him a quick "thank you" and he proceeded to sit right across from her.

"I can't believe I'm going to be working here in three days." The blonde took a breath in. The shop smelled of coffee and peppermint. Perfect.

"Natsu?" called out a brunette behind the counter. She walked over to the table where the two were sitting. "Aren't you working today?" He glanced over at a nearby clock.

"It's only 3:10. I don't start for another thirty-five minutes."

"So then, who's the girl?" The brunette pulled up a chair from another table and took a seat, propping her elbows on the table.

"This is Lucy, a friend from school."

"Hi!" greeted Lucy, feeling fairly awkward.

"Cana. Nice to meet you." Cana's eyes shifted back over to Natsu and she gave him a suspicious look. "Are you two anything _more_ than friends?" Lucy cringed.

"What does that mean?" the boy asked, being utterly clueless.

"Nothing," sighed Lucy, very relieved that he had no idea what Cana was implying. "Nothing at all."

"So you two are here together...why?" Cana questioned, narrowing her eyes.

"Because Luce is gonna start work here Friday!"

"Oh, really? I see."

"Cana~!" another girl beckoned. "I need your help over here!" The brunette turned around to see a long line of customers waiting for their coffee.

"Oh, man. Coming, Mirajane! I'll see you two later," she said as she hopped out of her seat.

"I see why they need more people to help out here," mumbled Lucy.

"This place has been getting more and more popular lately. We're blowing those chain coffee shops out of the water!" Natsu pumped a fist and stood up proudly. Lucy stared at him, not exactly sure how to respond. But there was one thing she was sure of:

She couldn't wait until Friday!

* * *

I think it's safe to say that this chapter is filler. xD That and NaLu fluff. :3 Next chapter, we meet some other very important characters! Well, one of them isn't all that important and the other is. Next chapter also begins the GrayZa and is filled with crazy Natsu moments! xDDD

Shout-outs to:  
HanaIchi Ikari  
MelzZz  
fafafi  
CheryChan09  
lildragongurl  
Luka-nee  
ayame028  
Magemage  
HeartGold12  
iCabal  
KingxLeon21

Because they're just awesome like that. ;)


	3. Friday

Hmm... I've been done with this chapter for a while (don't look at me weird! In the pre-planning stage I wrote the major scene out so it only took like 2 days to do!) but I promised myself I'd update another story first.  
Let's just say I broke that promise. Writer's block: I'm braindead.  
Yeah, but anyway, here's the latest chapter. This one's the debut of Gray Fullbuster! And a secret person! :D Well, they come first so you'll know who it is if you just read.  
Random, but have you ever tried to type one-handed? And with your non-dominant hand at that? This author's note is mosty one-handed typing. Hurt my right hand playing tennis. xP I can still do stuff, but my hand's all wrapped up, so it's weird. And I'm trying to stay off it so I don't pull anything else in my wrist.

**Another thing:** A lot of people mentioned the flow of things in the last chapter. To be honest, it got to me too. But since I don't want to change my style too much, my resolve is this: use more transition words (ie. later, outside, the next day, at the shop, etc.)! I tried it here. Hope this chapter is a smoother read for you. :)

Enjoy your read~!  
-xxGlassRose (the somewhat injured tennis player) xD

* * *

~13th Street, Chapter Three: Friday~

"Natsu!" Lucy yelled as she barreled down the pathway. "Where did that boy go?"

Natsu had been walking from a class in one of the side buildings of Magnolia University when Lucy had spotted him. And just as quickly as she had found him had he disappeared.

"Natsu!" she called out again, backing up. Unfortunately, the blonde did not see _what _she was backing up into.

"Oof!" said a small, light-blue-haired girl.

"Oh my goodness, I'm sorry!" Lucy exclaimed. "I wasn't looking."

"It's okay," the girl said. "Juvia knows you didn't mean to run into her." The blonde cocked her head to the side.

"Huh?"

"I like to talk in third person," Juvia explained, smiling. "I think it's cute."

"Um, okay… Well, Juvia, I'll see you around. I have to go find someone." She turned around and began to walk away.

"Who are you looking for?" Juvia asked, catching up to Lucy, who had no intention of slowing down.

"Oh, just this guy named Natsu."

"You mean the Natsu who works at the Fairy Tail coffee shop?"

"That's the one." Lucy slid past a couple people. "You know him?"

"I know just about everyone there. I'm a regular customer at Fairy Tail," the blue-haired girl said proudly.

"Really? I'm starting work there today."

"You are? I wish I could work there! Then I could be closer to- Oh, never mind!" she giggled, waving her hand up and down. "So, umm…"

"Lucy."

"Lucy, do you need help finding Natsu?"

"Nope!" Lucy answered, standing on her tiptoes as she caught sight of the very person she was looking for. "Just found him. Bye, Juvia! I hope to see you at Fairy Tail," she said before running off.

"Bye, Lucy!" Juvia waved.

Natsu heard his name being repeatedly called out, so he turned and faced the voice. Lo and behold, there was Lucy, running toward him, looking completely out of breath. He gave her a curious look.

"Lucy, you weirdo, why are you following me?"

"Weirdo?" she gasped angrily. "Am not! You're the weird one!" To her dismay, she found Natsu wasn't really listening anymore and was looking in the direction of a nearby hot dog cart. "Pay attention when I'm talking to you!" Lucy yelled, throwing her fists down by her sides and fuming.

"Huh?"

"Listen to me!"

"Listen to you what?"

"Ah!" The blonde grabbed her head as a sign of great exasperation. "I don't even remember what I wanted to talk to you about anymore!"

"Oh, well," he shrugged. Lucy moped.

"To think I spent all that time trying to find you and now I can't even remember what I was going to tell you…" Natsu turned back to the hotdog cart, and then looked at the sulking girl again.

"I just realized something."

"What?"

"It's Friday!" Natsu placed a hand on her shoulder, smiling brightly. Friday it was. Lucy could hardly believe she had almost forgotten! One's first job is a milestone. It would be wrong to forget. The blonde mentally slapped herself but found new excitement knowing that in a few hours she would be a full-fledged Fairy Tail employee!

Natsu grabbed the shirt and tried to pull it up.

"No, Luce, you're not wearing it right!"

"Yes I am! Now just let go of me!" Lucy yelled as she tried to keep her arms from going up as the boy tried to take her new Fairy Tail t-shirt off her body. "Let me put my own shirt on!"

"You're not doing it right!"

"There is no 'right' or 'wrong' when it comes to putting on my shirt! It's mine!" She backed away and yanked the yellow piece of clothing back over herself, trying to get away before Natsu could get ahold of her again. Lucy dashed out the employees-only room and stopped when she was standing in the main part of the Fairy Tail coffee shop. Natsu followed, standing next to his friend who seemed to be surprised by the amount of people who were sitting at the tables enjoying their coffee, even in the middle of the day. She smiled and put her hands on her hips confidently.

"Guess it's time to work. Where should I go?"

"Hold on-let me talk to the manager." Natsu began to walk towards the counter, Lucy following suit, but became distracted along the way as he spotted someone.

"Oi, Fullbuster! Get over here!" The addressed, a boy with jet-black hair, slammed his hand on the nearest table, which fortunately happened to be empty.

"What?" The customers began to anticipate the upcoming action with amusement.

Soon enough the pair of boys had begun a full-on argument, which mostly consisted of scowling and glaring at each other; Lucy backed away carefully, not wanting to get involved in whatever was going on between those two. She should have been more careful though, since she soon bumped into someone else's back-the same someone Natsu had mentioned before beginning to argue.

"Oh, it's you," a redhead said in slight surprise, taking a good look at the girl. "My new neighbor." At this point, something clicked in Lucy's head.

"Oh! Yeah, you're the girl I met the other day!" Lucy extended a hand. "Hi, I'm Lucy Heartfilia." The other girl grabbed the hand and shook.

"Erza Scarlet." She looked down at the blonde's yellow shirt. "So, um, are you working here now?" Lucy nodded.

"Natsu recommended this place to me. It seems like a really awesome place to work part-time." Erza grinned proudly.

"Fairy Tail is the best independent coffee shop in town. Mostly because of-"

_Shatter. _A mug lay in small fragments on the floor around Natsu and Gray's feet. They both looked up in the direction of the person they knew would get them in the most trouble. Big mistake. Erza's eyes looked like fire and her fists were clenched tightly.

"Natsu! Gray! You two get back to work now!" she seethed. The boys stiffened. "If I see you arguing like that one more time, I'll-"

"Make sure we'll never live to see another day?" the black-haired boy, who Lucy assumed to be Gray, asked in a somewhat-challenging manner. Natsu looked on in shock. From his experiences, he knew it was quite an audacious act to interrupt Erza on one of her tirades. But surprisingly, she simply nodded.

"Right." Gray stared at her for another few seconds with a slight smirk on his face, then went to get a broom to clean up the mess. Natsu and Lucy, on the other hand, were still in disbelief.

"Wow…" Lucy gaped. "That was, in a way, really impressive."

"It's my job," Erza sighed, flipping her bright red hair behind her shoulder. "I can't have them disturbing the customers like that."

"Oh, you're the manager, aren't you?" Lucy exclaimed. "I was looking for you so I would know what to do."

"Actually, I'm not the manager. Technically, we don't have one," she admitted. "It's not anybody's job description."

"Erza's really bossy! So she might as well be the manager," Natsu added, giving her a light slap on the back. One angry glare later, he grumpily mumbled, "I'm going," and went off to do something useful. The irritable redhead turned her attention back to Lucy.

"But if you were wondering what to do then… How about we start with some coffee-making techniques?" Erza led Lucy behind the main counter, took an order, and got to work. A man wanted a cappuccino, extra foam. The manager took a cup and worked her magic. Her skills were quite impressive; in less than a minute, she handed the cup to the man and thanked him. He paid Cana, who counted out just the right amount of change. "And that's how we work things around here."

"Wow."

"How about you start taking orders. I'll make them, and Cana will take care of the money. Sound good?"

"Yes!" replied Lucy with a salute. "How can I help you?" she asked the next customer. Erza smiled approvingly.

"Hey, Erza, I'm going home. You wanna come with me?' Lucy asked as she popped her head in the employees-only room. Work was over; the time was now 8:00 and those who did the night shift would take the shop from there. Erza had been getting her things together in a yellow and brown messenger bag when she was joined by Lucy.

"Hm?"

"Do you want to go home together?" the blonde repeated as she walked in the room. "You know, since we're… neighbors and all."

"Uh, yeah. Just give me a minute." Erza finished stuffing her possessions in the bag and threw on her jacket. "Let's go." The two left the room, and once in the main shop, the redhead dug in her pocket and pulled out a key chain. "Gray," she called, tossing the keys. He caught them in one hand. "Make sure Mr. Makarov gets those."

"Yeah, yeah," he groaned in compliance as the two girls left Fairy Tail.

Erza looked up from her feet when she and Lucy first stepped on the crosswalk. The headlights of cars coming to a halt at the intersection were bright and she held a hand up to shield her eyes. Their pace picked up a bit so they could make it to the other side before the light changed.

It was Lucy who broke the silence.

"That was a good first day!"

"Huh?" the other girl asked, slightly surprised.

"My first day of my first job," Lucy replied, grinning. "It was pretty cool." Erza smiled back.

"Glad you liked it."

"What was with that guy?" was inquired a few seconds later. "You know… Gray! That's his name."

"Him? He's usually in a bad mood. Well, lately, at least." Erza looked back at her feet. "But I don't really know-or care, for that matter- what's going on with him."

"I see…"

Back at the shop, someone else had a similar question.

"Gray, you jerk!" yelled Natsu, punching his rival in the arm, causing him to drop the keys Erza had just given him.

"Dude, what the heck?"

"What were you thinking earlier?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Gray said as he bent over to pick up the keys.

"You talked back to Erza!"

"And?"

'Nobody does that!"

"Maybe somebody should." Natsu looked at the black-haired teen in utter shock. "She acts like she runs the place. It gets on my nerves." Natsu hadn't thought about it much until that moment, but recently, picking fights with his so-called "rival" took much less prodding than usual. Gray had just been that much more irritable, at work especially. And because of Erza? And he wanted to stand up to her? Erza, the girl who rarely showed any emotion, save anger? The strict, domineering, austere girl who had an iron grip on Fairy Tail?

This was quite an interesting development.

* * *

The other person was Juvia! Don't worry, she's kinda important, but not really. Lisanna will show up in later chapters too. But they're not really threats, and they're mostly in the story for humor purposes. You'll see. :)

Shoutout time!  
ayame028  
MaJorReader619  
HanaIchi Ikari  
Mynameiseliza  
KingxLeon21  
Luka-nee  
HeartGold12: That's the best idea ever! I'mma put him in this story with a motorcycle at some point. xD  
WolfSound  
CherryChan09  
screamattheskyx3  
Moody1656  
StrawberryDragon94

Thanks so much guys! It really means a lot. ^^


	4. Full House

I meant to post this ages ago, but then fanfiction decided to be stupid and not let me post it until, like, now.

I have one thing to say about this chapter. It is _looong_. Well, for me, anyway. It's the longest thing I've published at once (you know, not like a whole story but just a chapter). And to think this was supposed to be a short one. xD I realized that some things needed elaboration before we move on to chapter five, which I can already tell you is the one of the most pivotal chapters in the story. But it makes me happy to write, because Gray and Erza are _exactly_ like Percy and Annabeth from the Percy Jackson Series! Percabeth is like my OTP of the moment, because I just finished the 3rd book and the pairing is so lovely~ I was fangirling with my friend the other day about them. XD

Oh yeah! Last time I forgot to say something really important!  
**In this fic, Gray and Erza are NOT friends.  
**Not yet, anyway. I hope that clears up some things up about Gray's behavior. To him, she's just a girl who tells him what to do. Within these next chapters, we're going to learn a lot about Gray and Lucy's role in the story will be expanded on (other than falling in love with Natsu, of course). Then you guys will know why she's the second main character and not Gray. And things will change a lot for the main couple of the fic. ^-^

And my best friend read this story and liked it a lot. It's got her seal of appoval on it so now it's legit! XD

So enjoy your read!  
-xxGlassRose :)

* * *

~13th Street, Chapter Four: Full House~

Erza opened the door of her apartment, looking through her bag to make sure she had everything.

"Oh, wait, my phone…" she mumbled as she turned back to get it.

Upon seeing the open door, Erza's next-door neighbor decided to peek in.

"Hey, Erza~!" Lucy said cheerfully. Next thing she knew, there was a pen stuck in the wall mere centimeters from her head. "EH?"

"Oh, it's just you," said the redhead. Lucy did a double-take. She wasn't seeing things. There really _was_ a pen stuck in the wall right next to her head. Something was just not right about this.

"Why did you throw a pen at my face?"

"I didn't know it was _your_ face," Erza replied evenly as she walked to the door. She yanked the pen out of the wall and tossed it onto a nearby end table. "You shouldn't just come into other people's apartments."

"_You_ shouldn't throw pens at people. You could poke an eye out or something dangerous like that," the blonde scolded as they walked down the hall. She hit the button to open the elevator, and after a few seconds, they walked in. "Are you doing anything Wednesday?"

"Hm, nothing but work. Why?"

"Because it's Halloween!" Lucy exclaimed. "You have to do _something_ fun." Erza shrugged.

"I've never been a Halloween person…"

"Really? Hmm…" the blonde pondered, placing a hand under her chin and pretending to look deep in thought. "What would you say to a scary movie at my place after work? We could get some candy and just chill out and eat."

"I'll bring a cheesecake," Erza said firmly.

"What does cheesecake have to do with anything?"

"It's good, and I like it. Have a problem with that?" the redhead questioned with a glower and a dangerous tone of voice.

"N-no! No problem at all!" Lucy fearfully stammered as the pair walked out into the lobby. "We'll just have cheesecake _and _candy." After pausing for a moment, she turned to her friend and said, "I hope we don't get fat."

Lucy adjusted the goggles on her face. She hated the way the latex gloves made her fingers feel and cringed, but it could not be helped; this was chemistry after all.

She turned her head to her lab partner who seemed to be going through the manual to see what the class was supposed to be doing.

"Aw, I don't think we're going to be able to make anything explode." Lucy frowned disapprovingly. Natsu and chemistry could _not_ be a good combination. He'd already destroyed a bookshelf. Who knew if Lucy would be his next victim?

"I can't believe I got _you_ as my lab partner," she sighed.

"Really? Why not?"

"Because you might kill us!" But unfortunately, the pink-haired boy had pretty much tuned her out by then and was messing with the various beakers and test tubes.

"Huh? Did you say something about food?"

Lucy slammed her head on the table.

The next day at Fairy Tail, Gray watched as a girl he recognized made her way up to the counter toward Erza. As he wiped down one of the tables, his dark eyes carefully followed the interaction between the two girls. The customer, whom he was pretty sure he knew as Mirajane's little sister, began to speak to the redhead, who was doing double-duty by making coffee when necessary and looking over some notes on her laptop in the meantime. Gray leaned to the side a little in the hope that he could hear what the two were saying.

He didn't catch all of it, but it was something about asking for napkins to clean up a mess. The boy looked several tables over and saw a cup on the floor and a large mess of coffee. Upon shifting his vision back to the counter, Erza smiled a smile that almost scared him, and then said something that made Mira's sister look relieved.

"Gray!" came a voice from across the room. The addressed snapped out his slight stupor to hear none other than the redhead. "Go clean that up," she said, a tone of dominance in her voice. He slowly left the table he had been wiping down and walked towards the other one. In the process, he moved past the counter.

Gray wished he hadn't bothered to look. But he did, and he instantly regretted it. There stood Erza with the smallest of smirks on her face. She looked pleased and smug with her power over him, even if the expression on her face was barely enough for Gray to tell so. And then it hit him.

She was _enjoying_ it.

From what Gray could tell, Erza liked having power over him. For some reason she got kicks from telling him what to do! Oh yes, some day he was going to tell her off for sure. Wipe that smirk off her pretty face. Wait, did he just think of her as pretty? No way! But he decided there _was_ going to be a day when he would defy the likes of Erza Scarlet.

Now, if only he could work up the guts to do it.

Juvia placed her elbows on the counter as she talked to Lucy a little. Her eyes darted back and forth between the blonde and the very cute boy who was wiping some coffee off the floor. Her cheeks turned dark pink when she looked over and saw he had removed his shirt, which he swore was an unconscious habit. Lucy picked up on this.

"Why are you looking at Gray so much?" The blue-haired girl sighed in happiness.

"Because he's _the_ Gray Fullbuster!" Lucy narrowed her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't heard of him? He's one of the most popular people in MagnoliaU!" Juvia exclaimed. "He's like the top of the food chain! Well, for the freshmen, anyways." The girl gazed at Gray again just as Erza had come over and angrily demand that he replace his missing clothing.

"He is?" Lucy looked back over to Gray and saw that he surely _looked_ like the typical popular guy. Messy hair, nice build and muscles, perfect smile; yep, he fit just about all the descriptions of the typical school heartthrob.

Lucy was _so_ not into those types.

But apparently, Juvia was very much into those types. Her blue eyes danced in excitement whenever they landed on Gray. Lucy rolled her eyes. Juvia could do better.

"Alright, let's see what we have here," said the blonde as she opened her pink laptop in the darkness of her bedroom. After having earlier talked to Juvia about how Gray was the new "it" of Magnolia University, she decided to do some investigating herself.

The first place she checked was the Magnolia Insider, an online blog run by some people who had nothing better to do with their lives than scrutinize, expose, and mess up someone else's. It was most likely sleazy and full of lies, but it was the best place for Lucy to get some inside info on the black-haired teen who worked at Fairy Tail.

She moved her mouse around the site, looking at articles about the football team, various classes, and the biggest upsets. Lucy was surprised to find that the website actually seemed fairly reliable-someone must have put hours and hours into organizing and running it.

And that idea proved to be correct when she found the student search box. Apparently, you could type in a name and find out about whomever you were searching for: what class they were in, what their GPA was, etc. The blonde made a face when she saw that feature. Anyone could just search for anyone they wanted? That was too ridiculous!

Lucy typed her name in the box and closed her eyes, dreading the results. Fortunately for her, nothing came up. She figured that she was just too new for whoever ran the site to know about her yet. A sigh escaped her lips.

"That's a relief… Now, let's see here. Gray Fullbuster," she sounded out as she typed. After tapping the "Enter" key, several results popped up on the screen. "What? He's just a freshman!" Lucy yelled at her laptop. She clicked on the first one and learned that Gray was supposed to be some soccer prodigy, which was for some reason important. Not only that, but his GPA had been a 3.6 in high school. That was pretty good for a stereotypical popular guy. "Hn… What else is there about him?"

Erza watched as Lucy yawned and stretched her arms for what seemed like the hundredth time in the last few minutes.

"Stay up late last night?"

"Yeah," the blonde replied sleepily, running a hand through her hair. "I was on the Magnolia Insider looking up some stuff."

"You trust that site?"

"I guess. It looks pretty legit to me."

"I probably wouldn't myself. What did you look up, anyway?" Erza asked, slightly curious.

"Hmm, just some stuff about Gray…"

"Gray?"

"Yep," answered Lucy. "Juvia told me that he was popular and I wanted to know if that was true. Apparently, he's some soccer star."

"Heh, soccer in this town is like college football in Alabama. It's the whole sports _world_."

"Really!" the blonde exclaimed. Soccer being _that_ popular, if you weren't in Latin America or something, just sounded odd. She was having a difficult time grasping the full concept. Seriously? Soccer?

"You haven't noticed? Posters and stuff are everywhere."

"Oh… So Gray's…?"

"Instantaneously popular because he plays well," Erza finished. "Even though he's not super well known, he thinks that he's so 'all that.' I feel as if I put him in his place at work." She smiled a smug one. "No special treatment." Lucy chuckled.

"Ah, I see. So 'Mr. It' has to work just as hard as everyone else."

"Harder, sometimes."

"You're evil, Erza."

"I know."

"So- ah!" Lucy yelled as two hands rammed into her back and propelled her forward. "Natsu!" Behind her, holding his sides and laughing his head off, was none other than the pink-haired boy whom Lucy had befriended.

"I got ya, Luce!"

"Dangit, Natsu! You scared me!" He made his way in between the two girls and began to walk with them.

"Uh, yeah, that was kinda the point. It's Halloween. And you should've seen your face!" he exclaimed before falling into another spurt of laughter. Erza had a hard time holding in a few giggles herself.

"I know I probably should punish you, Natsu, but…!" Lucy rolled her eyes.

"You guys are _so_ mean to me."

Walking into her third class of the day, Erza slung her bag over her shoulder and dropped into the chair. She sat in front of the bag, almost on the edge of her chair, and proceeded to take out her laptop and her textbook. But when she did, the book fell onto the floor with a loud thud.

Sighing, she bent down to get it. And in doing so, this girl came face-to-face with a boy who was very familiar-the same one she had just been telling her blonde friend about on the way to this very class.

Slightly surprised, they stared at each other for a moment, and Erza cocked an eyebrow in an attempt to discover whether Gray was actually going to pick up her book or not. Unbeknownst to her, he had actually planned to pick up the textbook, but that was only until he found out _whose_ textbook it was.

Standing to his feet, he smugly said,

"Nah, you can get it." She rolled her eyes and removed the fallen item from the floor. The redhead pondered making the boy come back and apologize, but it wasn't his job to pick up the book she was clumsy enough to drop.

They weren't at work yet.

"_It's Wednesday night, finally!" _Lucy screamed to herself. October 31st was here and so would Erza in a few minutes. She went to her kitchen and took out from a cabinet a large bowl full of candy. _"Yep," _she thought. _"We are definitely going to get fat."_

Erza looked at her blonde friend who was peeking through her fingers and occasionally squealing in fear.

"Man, this is so scary," Lucy said, still only watching the movie between her fingers. Erza cocked an eyebrow.

"Why'd you pick this movie if you get scared so easily?"

"Because it's Halloween. Eeek! Y-you're sup-posed to be s-scared!" the blonde stuttered. "It's like, tradition. Ack! Don't go in the room! You'll die! Idiot!" Even the tough Erza made a face when the person in the movie was attacked. Lucy shrugged, "I told them not to go in the room. They never listen to me." The redhead sitting in front of the couch with her couldn't help but laugh as she grabbed a fistful of popcorn.

Suddenly, the lights in the kitchen flicked off, making the apartment's only light the TV. An evil laugh sounded through the room, and the girls shot up and scanned the darkness in an attempt to figure out exactly what was going on. Soon, they heard in a voice that was trying way too hard to be scary,

"This the end for you!" Erza in response shot up and hurled a pillow in the direction of the voice. There was a smack, a crash, and when Lucy the turned lights on, a certain pink-haired college student sprawled out on the floor and a black-haired one standing next to him and laughing his head off.

"You guys?" she gasped. "What the heck are you doing here?" Erza walked over to Gray and jerked him towards her by the shirt.

"That's what I would like to know." Gray claimed non-involvement by saying,

"Don't ask me. Ask Pillowface over there. His idea." She glared at him for a few more seconds, then let go and walked over to Natsu, who had just sat up and was rubbing his head.

"Explain yourself," she demanded with an extremely dangerous tone of voice.

"I, uh-"

"I'm tempted to call the police right now. Or handle this myself." Natsu looked a bit terrified. Lucy ran in front of the accused and waved her hands back and forth.

"Erza, it was just a joke! Right, guys?" Her eyes darted back and forth between the two boys who nodded in consent. "See?" As angry as she was that the boys had somehow gotten into her home with the intent of scaring her, she put those feelings of anger aside for a few seconds in order to keep the peace. "Like I said before, it's Halloween!"

Both Natsu and Gray were quite astonished that Lucy had suddenly taken their side in the argument. But they all had to admit-an Erza who's _that _angry can be a very scary thing.

Erza looked at her friend and co-workers warily. She was not exactly sure what to do about the situation. On a normal basis, she would have punished them. But since it really was a joke that was harmless for everyone save Natsu, and Lucy didn't want trouble, Erza decided that punishment would not do anyone any good. She sighed.

"I could consider letting you two off the hook _this_ time." Natsu and Lucy breathed a sigh of relief while Gray rolled his eyes and smirked. "But it better not happen ever again! That's breaking and entering, you know! It could get you in big trouble!" Natsu looked confused.

"The door was unlocked." Lucy slapped herself in the face. This was all her fault, essentially. She was about to apologize to her friend, but the redhead continued to make her point.

"That's still entering."

"But it's entering in _Luce's _apartment," Natsu pointed out, standing up and throwing an arm around the blonde's shoulder. She turned slightly pink. "Not yours."

"You're intruding in our movie night," countered Erza darkly. "And you." She turned to Gray. "Why are you just standing there?" He gave her a strange look.

"Why are you always yelling at people?" The redhead frowned. What in the world was he doing?

"Why are you still here? You should be going." Erza pointed to the door. Gray retorted with another question.

"Why are you so bossy?"

"Why are you so cocky?"

"Why are you so uptight?" Natsu and Lucy exchanged confused looks as the other two continued their "Why" argument, which was heating up by the second.

"Why are you Mr. All That?" came another one from Erza. The expression on her face was some bizarre cross between somewhat-contained anger and determination. And the following comeback only intensified her appearance.

"Why are you Ms. Perfect?" She growled and seethed out the next words.

"You annoy me."

"The feeling's mutual." Gray's face was somewhere in between pride and frustration. And as Lucy examined the two as they looked almost as if they might kill each other, she was beginning to get exceedingly panicky.

"Hey, it's getting late! How about you guys go home and Erza and I will finish up the movie?" The movie was still playing on the TV and apparently, someone else had just died. Typical horror movie. Lucy pushed both the boys out the door, despite Natsu's protesting that he didn't get any food, and closed the piece of wood forcefully. "Huh, that was interesting, wasn't it? Now how about we finish up the movie and eat some more?" she asked, grinning.

Out in the hallway though, Gray was smirking to himself, having thoroughly enjoyed defying his redheaded coworker for the second time that day. Natsu, on the other hand, was still dismayed that Lucy hadn't given him any food.

"She didn't share any candy with me," he sulked as he looked back to the closed door of apartment 413.

"You're upset about that? Grow up!" Gray said. Next thing he knew, a very angry Natsu was in his face.

"How about you say that again, you stripping jerk!

"I said grow up, you hot-headed idiot!" The two continued to fight in their usual manner and throw insults back and forth until Erza opened the door and yelled out a quick

"Stop that!"

* * *

Anybody get the chapter tite? It's a poker term, and Lucy's apartment was full of people. xD *shot*

Shoutouts!  
Wakeupcallops - Lol, it wasn't that long! Only like... two weeks!  
screamattheskyx3  
WolfSound (even if you were to lazy to login, haha)  
CherryChan09  
lildragongurl - Actually, Jellal's not appearing in person in this story. He'll be referenced though. *not a big Jellal fan xD* Well, there's something else, but that'd mess up the plot some.  
GaukenAliceGRL  
Mynameiseliza  
HeartGold12 - Yes, Levy will be coming. (Go GaLe! xDDD)  
ayame028  
Gerkyhen - Haha, they _are_ the perfect couple. I love them so much. :D  
KingxLeon21 - Yay! Glad it was an easier read :)  
HanaIchi Ikari (Last but not least! xD)

Thanks again SO much! I've never had a story this popular, lol. :D


	5. Enough

Soorrrrry for the wait! I have been a very busy girl! Between school, tennis, tutoring, and my social life, I have no time. Especially since finals are in a couple weeks. o.o Like right now, I just got back from a dance. I went with my girlssss Even for some of the slow dances! xDDDD

So, about Jellal not appearing in this story, well, if you haven't heard, it is true. He's not coming. I thought about putting him in here, but every time I tried to work him in, the story got so much more angsty and dramatic. I was like "I wanna write a romantic comedy! This angst won't work!" So yeah. :P

This is a pretty important chapter. It's like, the turning point for the whole story. :D

I'm really tired right now. So I'm gonna wrap this note up.

Peace.  
-xxGlassRose :)

* * *

~13th Street, Chapter Five: Enough~

Erza groaned and leaned back in her chair. She was so tired, and only three pages of her five-page essay were done. This was more work than she had originally thought.

This was an essay that would need to be completed by anyone who wanted to run for the student council. And that group certainly encompassed Erza. She had always liked having a say in things, no matter what they were, and having a say in her college would be like a dream. So much power! So many possibilities! The redhead shifted around in her seat just thinking of them.

She cracked her knuckles and brought her hands back to the keyboard. Two pages weren't that much.

Lucy finished handling the last of the customers for her shift, a black-haired boy never leaving the corner of her eye. She had a very important favor to ask of him. Well, it was more of a favor for a friend.

The blonde was well aware that Erza Scarlet had her sights set on the student council. And Lucy, being the good friend she was, wanted Erza to get as many supporters as possible. So the first place to start would be with the most popular person she knew.

As soon as she could get away from the counter, she darted across the room, trying not to be too conspicuous, and tapped Gray on the shoulder. He turned around, slightly surprised to see his blonde coworker. He remembered her from the visit to her house and seeing her at work, but he didn't remember her _that_ well.

"Oh, um, Lilly?"

"_Lucy_!" the girl yelled. Remembering her mission, she calmed herself and gave Gray the most charming smile she could muster. He flinched at her sudden mood swing. "Gray, have a seat." She gestured to a nearby table. He gave her a strange look but sat down with her nonetheless. Lucy let out a sigh, knowing what she was about to ask.

"Gray, I am in need of your influence." That was followed by a lengthy silence.

Gray cocked an eyebrow at Lucy.

"Are you mental?"

Lucy ignored that little comment to pursue her request. "You would have power over stuff at school, wouldn't you? Being really popular and all."

"Really popular? Where'd you get that idea?" he asked, obviously taken aback, making Lucy flush.

"Umm, Erza, and Juvia, and a blog…" she mumbled quietly, playing with her fingers.

"Well, I have a lot of friends, if that's what you mean. But in a college, it's hard to be 'popular.' There are just too many people."

"Um, yeah, I guess so."

"Don't believe everything people tell you. Especially Erza. I wouldn't trust her opinion of me for all the money in the world," he snorted, crossing his arms.

"You wouldn't?" the blonde gasped, stunned. "Why not?"

"She's annoying. And bossy, demanding, over-critical, uptight, controlling, mean... I could go on for days," Gray groaned, leaning back in his chair. "To put things short, she's a thorn in my side."

"Erza's a nice person." Lucy thought for a second after saying that. "Most of the time."

"Exactly, most of the time. Except for me, it's all of the time."

"Well, from what I've heard from her, you're not exactly perfect either," the blonde snapped back. How dare this guy talk about her friend that way!

"Of course she makes it sound like _I'm _the bad guy. That girl downright _hates_ me. She'd be happy if I were dead."

Lucy made a face. "Don't you hate her too?"

He shrugged. "I guess I do." Surprised by that fact that he had just answered her question with a yes, the blonde turned her gaze back to her fingers in her lap.

"She's not a bad person… When will you not hate her?" she inquired, looking back at him.

"The day she treats me with some respect-which seems to be nowhere in the immediate future." And with that, Gray stood up from the table and left.

Erza Scarlet flew out the front doors of Magnolia University with another girl chasing after her. Lucy wished that the redhead would slow down, but that didn't seem likely. She soon found herself running just to catch up.

Lucy knew that it was almost four o'clock, and that they had been called into work early. And she knew that she was the one who had agreed to go with Erza to a special meeting for student council candidates, just to give her friend some support.

And she also knew that Erza was very much on edge, even for, well, _Erza_.

"Something on your mind?" Lucy asked, still just about jogging down 13th Street.

"Well, yes."

"What is it?"

"Elections are _this _week," Erza said, picking up her pace, not wanting to be too late to work. "Right now, my life has to be in perfect order. If it's not… Oh, I have no idea what I'll do."

"It's not _that_ big a deal, is it?" One look from the redhead told Lucy that it was indeed _that_ big a deal. "I see… But don't even bother worrying, Erza! You've got this one in the bag. You already head Fairy Tail so well that there's no doubt you'll be elected. You're the perfect choice." Erza smiled.

"Thanks, Lucy. I know I can do this," she replied, reaching for the handle of one of Fairy Tail's front doors. "I mean, there's not one part of my life that's really out of order by that much."

After opening the door, her smile evaporated.

The majority of the shop was clapping wildly. And then some other people, who were standing by the main counter, were putting on a little show for everyone present. Erza recognized them from school. They were a local garage band, and a pretty good one at that. But their talent quotient was beside the point. There was an unauthorized music performance! And a crazy one at that!

Erza's temper would have been even more aggravated if it weren't for the fact that most of Fairy Tail's customers were high school and college students who would be much more likely to enjoy this kind of impromptu concert thing.

Nonetheless, Erza exploded.

Gray was standing in the crowd, smiling widely and clapping for the band, humming a few of the lines of the song they were playing. He knew that he and Natsu were right in calling them up. This was way too fun, and just about everyone in the shop seemed to be enjoying it. It was nice to provide a little publicity for your friends every once in a while. Suddenly, Gray felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Natsu, who was gesturing towards the doorway, looking very worried. And when Gray saw what he was pointing at, he knew why.

A fuming Erza was never good. Especially when it looked like she was literally steaming.

This could not end well.

In the back room, Erza had all the employees line up, save Lucy, who the redhead knew hadn't arranged the concert. Natsu managed to mouth out, "Lucy, save me!" but when the blonde took a step toward him, Erza shot an arm out to stop her.

"Don't." Lucy stiffened and gave Natsu a look of sympathy.

"Erza," the blonde whispered. "I think you're going a wee bit… overboard."

"I am not." She took a few steps forward, looking at her might-as-well-be subordinates. "You will stand here like this until someone confesses who is responsible for this upset."

Silence floated though the room for what felt like a year, but Erza had not changed her stern demeanor. Someone was in _big_ trouble.

All of a sudden, Natsu blurted out, "It was Gray!" Hushed whispers ran through the line. Natsu was betraying his friend? He was part of this too. Was Gray doomed? Of course he was. This was Erza they were dealing with. He'd be lucky to make it to the end of his shift alive.

"Natsu, you idiot," Gray snarled, looking to his side at the pink-haired boy. Upon looking forward again, there was Erza about six inches away from him with a disapproving look on her face.

"So this was your fault. Why does that not surprise me?" She simply walked over to a nearby table and leaned herself against it. "Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Gray, after pausing for a bit, said two words that shocked everyone.

"I do." Erza arched an eyebrow, slightly surprised that he had even dared to speak.

"You do? Well, then, would you mind telling me?"

"It was fun." The other employees let out an "Ooooh." Gray continued on by saying, "We were having a good time. No one-not even any of the customers-was complaining. Everyone liked the music, and the band got some publicity. There was no real problem at all."

"No problem? Well, if your job is not that big a problem, then you wouldn't mind leaving this place of work and finding somewhere else that would let you bring in local bands for random concerts, would you?" His eyes widened as he stared at her in disbelief.

"You're threatening my _job_? It's not a big deal!"

"This is unacceptable," Erza said with a dangerous tone of voice. He kept the same surprised gaze going in her direction. She wasn't his boss. She had no right to even hint that she would fire him. She _couldn't_ fire him! Erza didn't have that kind of power, even if she thought she did.

He had finally reached his boiling point.

Gray walked over, slammed an angry hand on the table, and leaned over as Erza leaned back. She tried to move away, but only rammed into said table. With a serious expression and an almost frightening glare coming from his dark eyes, he said,

"I've had enough. You don't run things around here."

Erza's face turned the color of her hair.

Half of it was anger, the other was embarrassment. But somehow, she couldn't seem to get any words to come out her mouth. So all she did was glower at him.

The two glared at each other for a little, but Gray, satisfied with leaving the redhead speechless, stood up and walked off. Lucy turned to look at her friend, shocked, and mumbled out, "…W-what did he just do?"

"Hey, get back here!" the redhead yelled. Gray stopped in his tracks, making Erza think she had won this battle. And she thought this until he turned slowly and gave her a smirk.

"Make me."

* * *

To the peoplezzz:

HanaIchi Ikari  
WolfSound  
GaukenAliceGRL  
CherryChan09 - Ohh, Elfman is a good idea xD  
lildragongurl - Haha, don't let the Gruvia get to you. Grayza's better :)  
Gerkyhen  
HeartGold12 - Lol, that's pretty epic. xD  
Wakeupcallops  
KingxLeon21 - Haha, I've been writing that way since they taught me to in the third grade! :) *reminisces* I tried what you said though. It just feels weird. xD  
| Hypocrisy | - LOL, thanks. :) I'm glad you like it! Ohh, I have a dA!  
Jesskitt - Yep, Happy's coming :)


	6. Trump Card

YAY! I'm updating! You guys aren't the only ones who are happy about this! Haha :)

And yes, it's still me. Changed my pen name, lol.

I really need to stop posting after midnight. I just read the A/N of my last chapter. Yikes.  
I actually have a legit reason for not posting this time though! It may be summer, but I'm working on finishing another one of my stories, so it's my big summer project. But that doesn't mean I can't update this story! It's like, my big project in general, since it has a longer plotline than my others.

Get ready for one of the longer chapters. :) It's about 1000 words longer than the standard chapter!

Enjoy~  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Six: Trump Card

.x.x.x.

"_Make me." _

Erza frowned and clenched her fists as the two words replayed over and over again in her head. She banged a fist on her desk, causing her classmates to look at her strangely. Erza, realizing that physics class was no place to make an upset, regained her normal dignified composure.

"Miss Scarlet, are you frustrated with my explanation of the doping process?" asked a short man with glasses who was standing at the board.

"No, Mr. Hemmingway. I was just thinking about some things."

"Well," her teacher began, "if you could focus on the lesson and refrain from making sudden outbursts, that would be very much appreciated." Erza nodded her head respectfully.

"Yes. I'm sorry, sir."

The lecture continued on, and Erza's mind was racing. "_What in the world was that? I don't usually act this way. It's election week! I have to get myself together or I'm doomed!" _

"Hey, Erza!" a blonde called as she caught up with the redhead in one of Magnolia University's many hallways.

"Hi, Lucy."

"You wanna go get lunch? I'm in a bit of a Mexican mood myself," Lucy asked, smiling.

"I actually have something to do. Why don't you ask Natsu to go to lunch with you?"

"Well, there's no way he'll turn down that invitation. I'll go find him. See you later." When Lucy turned and walked off in the other direction, Erza sped up her pace. If she was going to fix this problem, she may as well begin where the problem started.

Gray tensed up upon hearing his name shouted. Well, it wasn't exactly the fact that his name was being shouted. It was more of who was shouting it. He slowly turned around as a sigh escaped his mouth.

"What do you want?"

"To know what's gotten into you lately." A redheaded girl slowly made her way over to him, hands on her hips.

"You're kidding me."

"I'm not kidding, Gray. You've been out of line lately and I want to know what's up," Erza said, a stern look on her face.

"You really want to know?" She nodded. "It's you, Erza. You're demanding, and controlling, and you walk around Fairy Tail like you own the place. And you _don't_." He noticed the girl scowl, but continued. "It'd be nice if you gave us some respect every once in a while. But you never do. _That's _what's up."

Her amber-colored eyes followed the boy's retreating figure as he continued on his way to wherever he had been going before. She crossed her arms. He couldn't be serious. He couldn't be.

But he was.

"Man, Natsu, why do you always have to do this every time we go somewhere?"

"If we stick close together, we'll get there faster," was his simple reply.

"I understand that, but do we really have to do it holding hands?" Lucy asked, staring down at her wrist, which had Natsu's hand around it.

"Do you not want to hold hands?"

"Um, well, it's not really that I don't want to, it's just kind of um, strange, and I don't know…" she began, looking away to hide the fact that her face was getting really red. "Oh, never mind." He turned back and gave her a smile, and she couldn't help but smile back. There was just something about Natsu that seemed to make people happy.

"Hey, Lucy, can you hand me the hot sauce?" Lucy looked among the various Frontera condiments. She had mentioned earlier that she was in the mood for Mexican food, and Natsu _loved _Mexican food. So picking the restaurant was an easy choice.

"Ah, here you go."

"Thanks." Natsu then proceeded to dump all that the bottle contained on his food, which already was full of peppers and more than spicy enough for the average person. The blonde's eyes widened, her mouth dropping open. He stared back at her. "What?"

Gray was making a cappuccino when he noticed that Natsu had somehow managed to end up in a fight with one of Fairy Tail's customers, a tough guy named Gajeel. He had recently begun attending Magnolia University, having transferred from Oak College, one of Magnolia's biggest rivals. He had the tendency to, well, not get along with Natsu. And Erza, of course, wasn't too happy about this.

"Natsu. Leave the customers alone," Erza ordered, grabbing Natsu by the back of his shirt.

"Yes ma'am," he whimpered. As the redhead dragged him away, Gajeel smirked at him, causing Natsu to scowl and make punching gestures.

Gray chuckled as Natsu was led into the back room, but quieted instantly when he saw the daggers Erza was shooting at him with her eyes. The expression on his face turned into something like a smug grin, and the redhead only glared harder in response.

"Don't start with me," she seethed.

He lifted an eyebrow, feigning innocence. "Don't start what?" Erza only made some odd grunting noise and angrily closed the door to the employees-only room, causing Gray to laugh.

"Hey, Erza, you ready to go?" Lucy called from across the room. Erza, after having picked up empty coffee cups that someone had left on their table, was walking towards the trash can. The end of their shift was nearing, and the girls were planning to go home as soon as they could to get started on all the studying they needed to do.

"Yeah, let me just get my stuff and change." The redhead pushed open the door to the back room and looked around for her bag. And while doing so, she spotted Gray. Changing.

Gray had been looking forward to the end of his shift. But when it finally arrived, he wasn't too jovial about it. He had just taken off his Fairy Tail shirt, pulling it up over his head. But when it was off and not covering his eyes, he saw a rather shocked looking Erza. His expression turned to a frown, guessing that she would have something negative to say, such as, "Put your shirt back on!" or "Don't go around stripping!"

After a few more seconds of her silence, he glared at her and asked, "Anything to say?"

Erza stiffened, determined to remain dignified. "You look…" She gave him a quick glance up and down and blushed slightly. As much as she hated to admit it, Gray was no eyesore. "Nice." With that said, she picked up her bag and walked promptly from the room, head held high. Gray's mouth was left hanging slightly open. That was the first compliment Erza Scarlet had ever given him. Ever.

Outside, Erza placed her hands on the nearest table and bent over it. "…I have been defeated…"

"I thought you were going to change," a confused Lucy said as she walked up to her sulking friend.

"Lucy… I don't get it."

"Don't get what?"

"That!" Erza exclaimed, pointing to the closed door of the employees-only room.

"Want me to go check it out for you?" the blonde asked, still utterly clueless as to what Erza was talking about. The redhead nodded, and Lucy wandered into the back room.

"_Ah." _Lucy thought when she saw what she guessed was the source of Erza's distress. "Gray!" she called out in a sing-song voice, making a "come here" motion with her finger.

"Lucy? What's up?"

"Well, look at that!" she exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "You got my name right this time."

He chuckled. "You'd kill me if I forgot again."

"True. But I am here to talk to you on business."

"What do you mean?" Gray asked. Lucy's "business" could not possibly be good.

"I want you to stop arguing with Erza." He opened his mouth to retort, but the blonde cut him off. "Listen, it's annoying. Ever since… that day…"

"What day?"

"The day you stood up to Erza, silly!" she yelled, hitting him on the chest.

"You act like that was five years ago or something," Gray began. "Lucy, it's been two days."

"I know that!" She took a deep breath in. "Erza's been acting different. It's weird. She's more irritable than usual, and more angry!"

"Seriously?"

"Yes! And _none _of us wants to deal with an angry Erza."

"Actually, I think I'd rather deal with an angry Erza than a happy one. If she's happy, that probably means something bad happened to me."

"This _isn't _funny!" Lucy whined.

"What's not funny?" was heard as an arm wrapped around Lucy's shoulder.

"Ow!" Natsu yelled when the blonde punched him in the gut, which caused him to remove his arm from around her.

"I remember specifically telling you not to do that!"

"Yeah, but did you have to punch me?" the pink-haired boy asked, rubbing his stomach. "You're so mean to me, Lucy." Gray chuckled at Lucy's violence towards Natsu, who did not take that lightly. "You wanna go, Fullbuster?"

"Bring it, Dragneel!" They got in each other's faces, preparing for another round of their pointless insults, when two hands pushed them apart.

"Stop it!" Lucy yelled.

Gray looked down in shock. "Whoa, Lucy's turning into Erza."

"This isn't good," Natsu added.

"I am not Erza!" the blonde yelled angrily at the two boys. "But I don't like conflict! So," she began, turning to Natsu. "Don't start fights with Gray! And you," she said as she turned to the black-haired boy on her other side. "Stop provoking Erza!" With that, Lucy flipped her hair and stomped out of the room, leaving Natsu and Gray staring at the door.

"Girls are _way_ too bossy."

"Yeah, seriously. It's just not cool."

Lucy placed her chin in her hand and sighed in happiness. She was so glad that it was Friday morning, because that meant one thing: the weekend! She would have to work Saturday, but Sundays, Fairy Tail closed so Mr. Makarov could go to church and not have to think about working, or something of the sort. Sundays were the only days of the week that weren't dedicated to working. School, on the other hand, could not be escaped. But Lucy had gotten used to studying on the weekends by that point and didn't mind as much. Now if only she could focus on her trigonometry lesson…

"Ugh, I hate trig. Hate, hate, hate," Lucy said as she walked out of the classroom. "With a passion."

Juvia giggled. "That's a lot of hate."

"Sure is."

"So, you wanna go ahead and go get lunch?"

"Yeah," the blonde answered. "Where are we going?"

"The cafeteria," Juvia replied as if it was obvious.

Lucy gaped. "They have that?"

"Not everyone can afford to eat out everyday," said another voice. The two girls turned around to see Erza coming toward them.

"I don't do that _everyday_. I buy groceries, too," the blonde pouted.

"Erza, do you want to come join us for lunch?"

"Oh," Erza began, looking slightly surprised. "Juvia, right?"

"Yep!" the peppy blue-haired girl said, beaming. "So? How 'bout it?"

"Okay."

The three girls filed into the cafeteria. Juvia and Erza were used to the environment, but it was entirely foreign to Lucy, who confusedly followed her friends through the line, putting very little on her tray. They picked a small circle-shaped table and sat down.

Lucy's eyes scanned the cafeteria, amazed at how many people came there for lunch. Didn't they have good taste? What she didn't know was that they just didn't have money.

She continued looking for people she knew when she spotted Natsu and Gray at another table not too far away. They were with several other friends, laughing and eating like teenage boys do. Apparently, Juvia was looking in the same direction.

"Isn't Gray cute?" sighed Juvia as she stared across the room, eyes sparkling in happiness. Erza twitched an eyebrow.

"He's a cocky, arrogant jerk. Why would he be cute?"

"Erza, you don't have to be so mean about it," Lucy said admonishingly. "His looks don't have to do with his personality. And he's definitely not bad-looking, at least." This earned her a glare from Juvia. The blonde tensed. "B-but I'm not saying I like him or anything."

"I'm not either," grumbled Erza, irritably stabbing her salad with her fork. The very thought of Gray made her want to punch something. The closest thing was the blue-haired girl, but Lucy would not like that at all. Meanwhile, Juvia was staring at Gray again and had fallen back into fan-girl mode.

"I am!" Lucy and Juvia continued to talk about different boys in the school, and Erza tuned them out, uninterested. She stood up, going back to the lunch line for another water bottle. On the way, she passed Gray and Natsu's table, and, sadly, did not go unnoticed.

"Hey, Erza!" called out a happy voice. The redhead turned around, forcing a small smile onto her face.

"Hey, Natsu."

"Come over here! I wanna show you something." Erza reluctantly complied and sat at the table in between Natsu and someone else, doing her best to ignore Gray, who sat next to the pink-haired boy. "Okay, look at this!" Natsu had a deck of cards in his hand, shuffling them wildly. "Pick a card!" Erza reached in and picked a card. "What is it?"

"The Ace of Hearts," she said as she handed the card back to Natsu. He shuffled the deck again and then let Erza pick another card. "Nine of Spades. Natsu, I'm not sure I understand this trick."

"That's exactly it!" the boy exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear. "Your card disappeared!" The table burst into laughter and the redhead stared at Natsu confusedly. After a minute, the group quieted down, only laughing a little, and began to go back to their conversations. The boy sitting on the other side of Erza, whom she didn't know, leaned toward her.

"Hey, you're pretty cute. I don't think I've seen you around campus. You a freshman?" Erza nodded, and the stranger threw his arm around her shoulders. She cringed. "You wanna go out tonight?"

"No thanks," she responded, slipping out his grasp.

"Come on, baby, don't be like that," he said as he placed a hand on the back of her skirt.

Erza gasped and shoved his chest forcefully. "Get off of me!" The guy fell to the floor, stunned. He then stood back up, cracking his knuckles.

"No little girl is gonna push me around like that." Surprisingly, a fist met his face and he tumbled back to the ground.

"Back off, Jeff. Leave her alone." Erza looked up, eyes wide. Standing in front of her was Gray Fullbuster, who had just punched the guy who had been hitting on her.

Jeff wiped his mouth, where some blood was trickling. "You're gonna regret this, Fullbuster."

"I doubt it." Gray turned around, fully aware that all the eyes in the cafeteria were on him. "Erza, are you okay?" He placed a genuinely concerned hand on her arm.

"I'm fine," she said, snatching her arm away. She hated that it had to have been Gray who saved her. Why not Natsu? He was sitting next to her the whole time. He saw the whole thing. Why couldn't it have been him and not Gray? Erza detested the very idea of having to thank Gray for anything at this point.

She was about to stand up and go far away from that table when she heard her name being called out.

"Scarlet! Fullbuster! Get over here!"

* * *

Ooh, little cliffie there. ;)  
Next time around, we'll be introduced to a new character!

I love writing the Erza/Gray interactions! It's so much fun, haha! But most of all, I LOVE writing Natsu! He's my favorite FT character. Which gives me an idea:

Who's you're favorite Fairy Tail character?

You don't have to answer. I thought it'd be fun to have a discussion question for you guys to answer in a review. But please do! I think it'll be fun! :D

Shoutouts!

screamattheskyx3 - I know right? Haha :)  
HanaIchi Ikari - I can't wait either! HE's coming next chapter! :D  
Gerkyhen - Haha, I love your reviews! They're so funny. It'd be pretty OOc if they did that, but so awesome too. xDDD  
HeartGold12 - Oh, I didn't mean right away! Levy's coming in later in the story, and she'll play an important role toward the middle/end. She's still gonna come though, and there WILL be GaLe! I promise! :)  
WolfSound  
AkixYuseiGRL - This is so off topic, but I love your new pen name. Aki x Yusei FTW!  
CherryChan09  
KingxLeon21  
(Anonymous) - Even though you didn't put a name, I think your review was my favorite this time around. I'm trying to fill the void! But you should totally do a GrayZa essay! I'd read it! And yes, I'll keep spreading the love :)  
Cristinne - Haha, you're welcome. :) I'm glad you like the story.  
ayame028 - The scenes you pointed out were some of my faves too! I'm glad someone liked them. xD  
PressTheResetButton  
Shadowangle98 - Lol, that made me laugh. xD  
Elemental Dragon Slayer - Does this count as soon? Lol

Thank you so much everyone for making this my most popular chapter story, with 62 reviews, 26 faves, and 27 alerts! Every one means a lot to me. And I love all the reviews (even the ones I don't comment on, haha).

'Till next time~


	7. The Fall

Wah! Sorry about taking such a long time to update! A week after I last posted, some bad stuff happened and I wasn't able to focus on my chapter fics for a long time. ;.; And then school started, and I've had a good bit of homework even though I'm only two weeks in.

So, in somewhat of an apology, I present to you the longest chapter thus far! 4600 words before the author's note and all that jazz.  
I dedicate this to my reviwers and readers. I love you all. :D

Enjoy!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Seven: The Fall

.x.x.x.

Gray leaned back in the chair and glanced over at Erza, who was looking everywhere in the office except at him. He supposed that this was new to her and that she had probably never even _been _there before unless it had been for a good reason, being Miss Perfect and all.

He, on the other hand, had been in the dean's office a few times for various reasons, some good, some bad. A couple of the incidents were soccer-related and a couple were conduct-related. But Gray was sure that he had never gotten into as much trouble as he was in right then.

Goodness knew Erza hadn't.

"So," Gray began, trying to think of a topic. "What class are you missing right now?"

She turned to face him, looking very angry. "English."

"Ah. I'm missing physics." She just nodded and the awkward silence fell back over them. Gray honestly felt slightly sorry for her. He knew that Jeff had messed around with girls in the past, but he had never expected him to pull anything on a girl Gray knew or in an extremely public place like the cafeteria. The whole thing was stupid. Why were _they_ the ones sitting in the dean's office and not the jerk by the name of Jeff? Sure, they beat him up, but he deserved it! It was harassment - or something like that. Gray was positive that if he presented his case correctly, he could get Jeff punished and get himself - and Erza - off the hook. Yes, that was what he would have to do.

"Hey, Erza," he said quietly, wanting to brief her on his plan.

The redhead opened her mouth and closed it again. She had been planning to say something rude and scornful, but then some words began to ring in her head.

"_It'd be nice if you gave us some respect every once in a while."_

Erza shifted uncomfortably in her seat. If Gray wanted her to be respectful, that's what he would get! She had been trying over the past few days, but it was getting increasingly hard, especially when she had to refrain from berating him for being shirtless.

"I have nothing to say to you," she said firmly. She crossed her legs and stared off in the opposite direction, leaving Gray to look at her confusedly.

"What's with you and your-" The next thing Gray knew, there was a finger in front of his mouth.

"Listen. I'd like to get through this with the least interaction with you possible. If we don't talk, we don't fight. So it's best if we don't speak to each other," Erza said seriously.

"But I have a plan to get us out of trouble!" exclaimed Gray, angry at her cold attitude.

"I'm not interested in your plan. Just stop talking to me!"

"If you would-"

"Mr. Fullbuster, Miss Scarlet, the dean will see you now," said the secretary, peeking into the waiting room of the office. Gray and Erza exchanged a worried look, and then stood up to head into the main office.

Gray was trying his best to keep his cool, but Erza was nervous. The last time she could remember getting in trouble in school was in the fourth grade when she got mad and poured a bottle of glue on Marty Brown's head for calling her hair a funny color. From that day forth, Erza had refrained from fighting unless it was necessary. She would only use violence off school grounds. But some guy touching her in inappropriate places _had _to be the exception. She couldn't get too much in trouble for this, could she?

The dean drummed his fingers on the desk as the two students each took one of the chairs in front of his desk.

"Miss Scarlet, Mister Fullbuster, I hear there was a fight in the cafeteria today."

Erza was the first one to speak. "Sir, I take full responsibility for the fight. I instigated it." It may have been a lie, but at least it was a well put together one. If Erza could keep Gray out of trouble, she wouldn't owe him anything! Then her life could continue on in - relative - peace.

"I see," replied the dean.

Gray, however, wasn't going to go along with Erza's unspoken plan.

"No! Dean Johnson, it wasn't her fault at all!" The redhead's eyes shot open. Was her worst enemy actually defending her to the point that he could be punished as well? "Jeff touched Erza inappropriately. She was only defending herself. And if anyone should be in trouble, it should be Jeff! Or me, since I'm the one who punched him. But not Erza. She's innocent." Gray finished his rant to see Erza staring at him with a confused look in her eyes. He only smirked and sent her a wink, mouthing, "We'll get out of this together." Erza was only more stunned by this and blushed slightly, turning her attention back to the dean.

"Well, is it true, Miss Scarlet?"

"Yes," she replied with a nod. "I pushed Jeff to the floor because he had his hands on me and I felt uncomfortable."

"Alright then," the dean said, standing from his chair.

"Wait - That's it?" Gray asked incredulously.

"Of course. I know you two wouldn't lie about something like this. You're both off the hook."

At this moment, the two students beamed at each other. It was the first time - at least in his memory - that Gray had seen Erza genuinely smile. And upon seeing that, he decided that her smile was something he would like to see more often.

"Hey, Natsu?' Lucy asked. The two were currently lounging behind the main counter of Fairy Tail. The shop was fairly empty, and the people who were there were all immersed in their drinks or various other things they were doing.

"Yeah?"

"Do you have a family?"

She noticed the hurt on his face when he answered, "No, not really."

"Hmm," Lucy sighed. "Do Gray and Erza?"

"Not that I've heard of," he replied. "Why?"

"Oh, I was just thinking. Thanksgiving's coming up-"

"Wait!" Natsu yelled, interrupting the blonde. "That's the holiday when you eat all the food, right?" When she nodded, he was suddenly five times more interested in the conversation.

"Anyway, Thanksgiving is coming up, and I was thinking… How about we have a dinner party at my place? Since I don't have a family I would want to visit, anyway."

"Sweet!" he cheered. Lucy giggled at his enthusiasm before turning to the door. The bell on top of it had just rung, so that meant they had a customer to serve.

"Oh, hey, Juvia!" Lucy called out when she saw who was walking into Fairy Tail.

"Hi, Lucy! Can you get me a mocha latte? I've got this book to read for British literature class and it's so boring," she said dramatically, holding a copy of _Helen_.

"Coming right up." After the exchange had been made, Juvia settled in at her absolute favorite table in the shop. It was right in the middle of the shop, and from there, she could watch all the people in the shop and the things they did.

Juvia opened her copy of and held it in front of her face. But right before she started to read, she noticed something. Juvia peeked above her book to see that someone was looking at her - a boy who looked about her age with chestnut brown hair. She found herself looking back at him, tilting her head to the side. Shaking it off, Juvia returned to her book. She had to read it for class. She had to focus.

"Who's that?" a voice asked behind her. Juvia jumped in shock and looked up into the curious face of Lucy.

"Who's who?"

"That guy you were staring at a minute ago," the blonde replied, pointing to said guy. "Is he anybody you know?"

"Um, no. I have no idea who he is. He looks kind of familiar, but I'm not sure."

"Oh. Well, I gotta get back to work." Juvia nodded as Lucy walked off, happy to _finally _be able to focus on her book.

But she wasn't. Her coffee cup was empty.

Juvia sighed loudly, trying to remember when she had drunk the thing in the first place. She stood up to go back to Lucy for a refill.

On the way to the counter, Juvia spotted Gray and Erza, coming in together, late. She couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy, but she knew that it was most likely that they had been back at the college anyway and were only walking together since they had to go to the same place. However, Juvia was so distracted by Gray that she didn't notice she was walking straight into a table. Juvia tripped over the leg, tumbling over onto the floor. Her cheeks turned bright red when she realized that she had just made a fool of herself in front of Gray. But fortunately, he wasn't really paying her that much attention. Then again, when was he?

"Are you alright?" an unfamiliar voice asked. Juvia looked up to see the very boy she had spotted from across the shop before.

"Um, yes. I'm okay." He helped her up, causing Juvia to blush. "Thank you for helping Juvia," she said.

"Juvia? Is that your name?" She nodded. "Well, Juvia, my name's Drake. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, Drake." She shook his hand, the smallest of smiles on her face.

"I say two weeks until they go out," Cana whispered to Mirajane.

"Cana! You shouldn't say such things!" But when Mira looked at the two college students, she couldn't deny that they were cute.

"Seriously?" Drake picked up a book on his table and showed it to Juvia. "We must be in the same English class!"

"Ms. Crawford, third period?"

"Same one!"

"Oh!" Juvia exclaimed with a smile. This guy, even though she had only known him for a matter of minutes, was funny and nice, and she had a feeling that they would be good friends.

Gray opened the back door to see Erza. And for the first time in a long time - well, the first time he could remember - he smiled at the sight of her. It wasn't one of his smirks that he usually wore. It was a genuine smile and it felt wonderful.

"Hey, Erza," he greeted.

"Oh, hi, Gray." He could hear the trouble in her voice and see it in her eyes when she turned to face him with a sad but stern expression.

"What's wrong?"

"Don't do it again."

"What?"

Erza bit her lip, looking away from him. "It was nice of you to try and help me back there, but you don't need to be concerned with me. Gray, I'd prefer if we kept our distance from now on."

"Erza, what the heck are you talking about?" Gray asked, not understanding.

"Ever since I've been around you more… My place on the student council is in jeopardy. I can't… be near you anymore." Not waiting to hear his response, she slipped out of the room, leaving Gray wide eyed and very, _very _confused.

"And then she said we need to 'keep our distance'. What the heck is that supposed to mean?"

"How should I know?" Lucy replied, scribbling on her notes for her upcoming history test.

"I don't know. You're the one who hangs out with her all the time." Gray sighed, sinking further into his couch. It was only about a half hour after his shift had ended, and he had called Lucy to explain his predicament with Erza and, hopefully, get some advice on how to deal with it.

"Maybe she's still mad at you for standing up to her."

"Nah, I don't think that's it. She said something about her place on the student council."

"Oh, yeah, she's really set on that position," Lucy said as she flipped through the pages of her textbook. "This is kind of random, but how did you get my phone number, anyway?"

"Natsu gave it to me."

"That IDIOT!" Gray had to hold the phone away from his ear to keep the blonde's screech from deafening him.

"Back to my thing with Erza…"

"Um, yeah, right. How would something at Fairy Tail affect how the student body votes for their leaders? She said her life had to be in perfect order…"

"It doesn't. The student body doesn't vote."

"What?"

"They don't," Gray repeated. "Potential candidates submit an essay and are evaluated by various teachers and students who have been on the council."

"That's weird…" she mumbled.

"I think the administration said there's too many students to do voting the normal way. It's kind of stupid, though," he said as he played around with a rubber band he had found on the couch.

"So, Erza wanted her life in order to look good in front of the council?"

"I guess so."

"And you threw her off by standing up to her at Fairy Tail."

"Yeah."

"…You're an idiot. How dare you ruin Erza's dream!"

"Hey! I didn't even know about her dream until today when she said all that stuff about staying away from me! It's not my fault!"

"You owe her, now," Lucy said with a nod, focusing more on the conversation than her studying by then.

"No, I owe her nothing. I try to help her out and she just wants to get away from me. I'm not letting this go. She is _going _to be grateful to me!"

"Gray, this is _Erza_ we're talking about. Don't be stupid and expect her to actually _listen _to you."

"I'm not stupid! Wouldn't you be grateful if somebody did what I did for her in the cafeteria? You might not have guessed, but Jeff is pretty well-known around campus. My own reputation is gonna suffer from that stunt. But why did I do it? I was trying to be a good friend. But then she goes and tells me she doesn't want to be near me."

"I understand why you're frustrated," Lucy sighed. "But what you're planning - from what I know about you - is not going to end well. What the heck do you plan to do anyway?"

"I dunno," Gray replied as he played with a loose piece of string he had found on his couch. "I was thinking I could just annoy her until I get what I want."

"Why do you think that'll work, you retard?" the blonde yelled into her cell phone. Gray cringed again.

"Are you trying to make me deaf?"

"No. I'm trying to keep you from making up some idiotic plan!"

"I'm smart!"

"Could've fooled me."

"Shut up! I'll come up with something!" Gray could practically feel himself getting a headache as he wondered if calling Lucy had been a good idea in the first place. "Either way, Erza will learn to respect me if it kills her."

"Don't go around murdering my friends!"

"It's just an expression! But seriously, Erza is going to respect me."

"I doubt it."

"Can you stop that?"

"Stop what, Gray?" Lucy asked as she tried to turn her attention back to her textbook. "I'm just being realistic here. You and I both know that Erza is really tough. She's not the type to go around wanting help from others. Or admitting that people are right, even when they are."

"Does that mean you think I'm right?" he asked somewhat hopefully.

"I'm not saying anything, Gray, except that whatever you plan to do probably won't work. But you can go ahead and try, just for the heck of it. It'll make things interesting." Gray could almost hear the smirk on her face as she said so.

"I think I'm just going to bug her about it. If she wants me out of her life, she's not going to get what she wants for once."

Lucy sighed. "Alright. But I'll warn you: you're probably gonna get beat up."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take."

"No need to fake coolness," she said back before laughing at the annoyed sound she heard on the other end of the line. "I'll see you tomorrow at work, okay?"

"'Kay. See you, Lucy."

"Later, Gray." He clicked the "end call" button and sat his phone down next to him on the couch. Gray sighed and placed a hand on his forehead. Tomorrow was going to be a very _long _day.

"The movies?"

"Yep!" Mirajane replied with a smile. "We're closing the shop early and all going out. You should come, Erza."

The redhead ran a hand though her hair. "I'm not sure, Mira. I should probably get home and study."

"Aww, come on!" cried Cana as she slung an arm around Erza's shoulder. "Live a little. You never come out with us."

Erza let out a heavy sigh. "I guess…"

"That's the spirit!"

"But I'm not drinking _anything_ you give me."

Cana gave the other girl a pout, slightly disappointed. "You're no fun."

"Better believe it," Erza mumbled as she slipped out of the brunette's grip. She walked over to the counter where Lucy was standing and waiting for someone to enter the shop. "Hey."

"Hey!" Lucy replied cheerfully. "Are you going to the movie later?"

"Yeah. Mira just invited me. Do you know what we're seeing?"

"Umm…" Lucy placed a hand under her chin. "I can't remember. I think Cana said she wants to see _Cowboys and Aliens_."

"…What?"

"That new action sci-fi movie."

"Oh." Erza figured that as long as they weren't seeing some sappy romantic drama, she'd be perfectly fine.

Boy, was she wrong.

The ride there was the first problem. Erza, Lucy, Natsu, Gray, and Mira had all piled into the back of Cana's old green van for the trip. How Cana got picked as the driver, no one would ever know. Personally, Erza didn't feel confident being in the car with Cana, let alone having her _drive_, but everyone else seemed pretty fine with it.

Gray had taken the passenger's seat. Lucy, Erza and Mira had squeezed into the middle row, and Natsu got the back all to himself. Since he had bad motion sickness, he was sprawled out over the seats and suffering the entire trip.

Gray and Cana talked just about the entire time, causing Erza to wonder why she hadn't noticed their friendship before. She shook off the thoughts of the two and leaned against the side of the car, watching the entirely familiar view of 13th Street from the window. Lucy chatted with Mirajane, who didn't seem to mind in the slightest. All of a sudden, a teeny tiny part of Erza wished she were more social and friendly. But the teeny part soon was told to shut up by the rest of her who didn't want that at all.

"We're here!" Mira sang excitedly. Erza jerked up, not even having noticed that they were already at the movie theater. She opened the door and slid out, stretching a bit. A small smile made its way to her face. If she was already out of that accursed van, the rest of the trip would be fine.

And of course, she was wrong.

The second problem occurred when they were inside the theater. Before they had even gotten in line to get their tickets, Natsu had rushed off to the snack bar with the intent of buying just about everything. Lucy had to go after him to reveal the horrors of movie theater snack bar prices. Natsu's jaw had dropped, and Lucy had ushered the sulking boy back to the rest of the group.

When the duo returned, Gray only laughed and dug ten dollars out of his pocket, giving it to Lucy.

"Thanks, Gray!" she exclaimed before dragging Natsu back to the snack bar. Gray gave money to both Cana and Mirajane, but when he turned to Erza, she was in for a bit of a surprise.

"You want it?" he asked.

She looked up at him confusedly before reaching for the dollar bill. "Um, sure…"

"Well, too bad!" Gray yelled, snatching the dollar away at the last second.

"What?"

"You can only have it if you admit that you're grateful to me!"

"What?" Erza repeated. "I have no idea what you're talking about."

"The cafeteria! Yesterday! I saved you and you act like that's a crime!" he shouted, causing movie-goers to give them strange looks.

"I never asked for your help. I had everything under control."

"Yeah, a guy you don't know touching you is _so_ much control." Gray rolled his eyes.

"It wouldn't have been such a big deal if you hadn't punched him," Erza said through gritted teeth.

"Oh, it's my fault now. Erza, in case you don't know, I only punched him because he was about to get up and _hit _you. And I don't care if you kick my butt on a regular basis! I don't kick back! Jeff is big and I doubt you'd be able to take him alone if he really wanted to hurt you." By this time, he had grabbed her shoulders and was ready to shake the life out of her if she still wasn't getting this.

Erza looked up into the dark eyes of the boy who was showing more concern for her than she could remember anyone having ever shown her. Her eyebrows furrowed. She didn't need this. Neither did he.

So she pushed his arms away and gave him a serious look.

"I don't want your help." And with that, she whipped around and left the theater, not caring whether she saw _Cowboys and Aliens_ or not.

"Erza?" Lucy knocked on the door of apartment 412 for the third time. "You in there?"

"Oh, hi," the disgruntled redhead said as she opened the door. "What's up?"

"I brought you leftovers from Applebee's," Lucy replied with a smile. "I thought you might be hungry."

"You and Natsu are always going out to eat together," Erza mumbled as she inspected the contents of the to-go box the blonde had handed her.

"We didn't go alone!" Lucy exclaimed as her cheeks went pink. "We took Gray and Mira with us. Cana left right after the movie, and you could've come if you hadn't left so early."

"Oh." The redhead recounted the events of the afternoon and sighed.

"What happened anyway?"

"Gray was being an idiot."

"Is that _news_?" Erza chuckled at her friend's comment and invited her inside the apartment.

Lucy glanced over at her alarm clock. It was ten thirty, and she wondered what had her waking up so much later than she did on the weekdays. But then, she remembered. Lucy had spent several hours in Erza's apartment talking about life in general and watching movies. But the good thing was that it was Sunday, and Lucy had nothing in particular to do. So she sank back into her pillow and fell asleep.

Lucy placed her head down on the table and stifled a moan. She was so exhausted. Due to her sleeping in on Sunday, getting to sleep that night had been much harder. And now, she had been fighting sleepiness all morning long. The good thing was that it was lunch and she only had one class left. Lucy sat at a table with Juvia as the blue-haired girl ate her lunch quietly.

All of a sudden, they heard the _thump-thump-thump _sound of someone rushing toward them. The girls lifted their eyes to see Erza, who was holding a letter in her hand.

"My student council letter is here."

Lucy let out a small squeal as she sat up and motioned for Erza to sit down. "Well, let's open it!"

"No," the redhead replied with a shake of her head. "If I open it now, I will hardly be able to contain my excitement." Lucy wondered how true that was considering the serious and not very excited expression on Erza's face.

"When are you going to open it, then?" Juvia asked.

"I will open it at work."

"Ugh," Lucy groaned. "You're making us - and yourself - wait like another two and a half hours!"

"Well, I don't need any distractions while I go to class." The blonde sighed and gave up. Erza had an iron will - that was for sure.

"Open it!" Lucy yelled the second she and Erza stepped into the shop.

Erza gave her a small smile. "Alright, let's see…" She ripped the envelope open and removed the letter.

"Erza? What does it say?"

The redhead didn't respond. She only dropped the piece of paper and made a mad dash for the door of the employees-only room. When she opened that door, it almost flew into someone.

"Going somewhere, Scarlet?" Gray asked in an annoyed tone.

She turned around, tears in her eyes.

Gray hadn't been so shocked in a long time. His head began to spin. Had that been Erza? _Crying_? He hadn't even known that was possible for Erza. She was always so serious, rarely showing any emotion except anger. Gray opened the door to see an equally shocked Lucy holding a letter.

"Lucy? What happened?"

"Erza…"

"What?"

"Erza!" Lucy exclaimed. "She… she didn't make the council." Gray's eyes widened and he was suddenly filled with understanding. "It must be really hard for her," the blonde continued. "She wanted that so much."

"Yeah… Lucy, do you know where I can get some tissues?"

The back door slowly creaked open. Erza whipped around, still crying a bit. When she saw who it was, she turned back, wiping her eyes when he sat down on the back step with her.

"Tissue?" Gray asked casually. When she didn't respond, he set the box down between them. "You know," he said after a minute of silence. He leaned back and, avoiding eye contact with Erza, gazed out at the orange sunset. "The Erza I know wouldn't let something like this slow her down."

"What're you rambling on about?" she asked with her face still hiding behind her knees.

"The Erza I know would get mad, confront the student council leaders and say something like 'How dare you idiots not place me on the council! I'm a great choice and blah-de-blah-de-blah,'" he said in a stereotypical girl voice, making mouth movements with his hand.

Erza raised her face and gave him a puzzled look. "…Are you trying to cheer me up?"

"Um…" Gray scratched the back of his head nervously. Even though this was, in essence, his worst enemy, he was still trying to make her feel better - and failing, apparently. "What… What I mean is," He caught her looking up at him and he stared back into her eyes. "That the Erza I know would fight something like this. She wouldn't sit around and cry about it. Because…" The redhead leaned toward him, wondering what he was going to say next.

"Because Erza Scarlet doesn't cry."

"I'm not crying," she lied, wiping her eyes to make sure they were dry. "It's… it's just… the weather. I have allergies."

"Yeah, right," Gray scoffed, trying not to laugh. "You think I'm gonna believe that? Besides! I was trying to be nice and then you go and ruin the moment with a stupid lie about 'allergies.'"

"Shut up." Erza gave him a firm punch in the shoulder.

"Ow!" he yelled. "Now _that's_ more like the Erza I know. Violent and mean."

"Shut _up_!"

* * *

You guys may think Gray is OOC, but not really. The thing is, he doesn't have the respect he has for Erza in the series. What I'm trying to recreate is that time when they were younger. The time when Gray was super persistent and wedged his way into Erza's life even though she didn't want him there. See? I'm actually doing a pretty good job! *shot* (Don't you just love self-justification?)  
The Gray and Lucy interactions are so fun. xD I really like their friendship and decided to feauture it in the fic.

And the next chapter is... Interesting. You're just gonna have to wait! But since I already started that one, it shouldn't take too long. :)

On a random note, last chapter I got 17 reviews. THANK YOU SO MUCH! That's the most reviews I've ever gotten on anything! You guys make me so happy. :'D

Shoutouts!  
Kelley Splash - Natsu ftw! And thank you! I'm glad you like it. :)  
HanaIchi Ikari - Yep! He's here! *squee*  
(Anonymous) - Nice observation! The cards were important! Yes, everyone needs to know the awesomeness of Grayza. I must read the essay. xD  
CheryChan09 - Yes, more love for Natsu. xD  
Gerkyhen - Your reviews always make me laugh. xD I wanted to punch Jeff, too, but he's a good plot mover.  
Elemental Dragon Slayer - Yep, she is. Glad you like it!  
GhostStorm - Me too! *shot*  
softasthunder - Well, soon, we'll see a lot more NaLu *excited!* :D  
AkixYuseiGRL - Yep! I haven't watched 5Ds in forever though. I really gotta start watching again. Gray is doing pretty well! Erza hasn't murdered him yet. xD  
yellowtulip - Nice idea! But I said he wouldn't come _in person_. I never said anything about him affecting the plot. ;)  
Maifan4231 - You're right. I spent like two months planning out this fic. xDDDD  
Somebody - Thank you~ It can be hard, but I'll do my best!  
Luvandia - Nope! Juvia is too nice to make evil. I want her in here for comic relief. x3  
Shadowangel98 - Haha, now I'm wondering what you thought of. xD  
ReeVance - Well, here you go! Haha!  
|Hypocrisy| - Do you mind if I steal that? It doesn't make sense now, but I want to use something like that later. xD Gosh, Gray and Natsu are just epicness.  
lil'chrome-chan - I'm glad you like it! Writing Gray and Erza is so much fun. :)

Until next time, folks!


	8. I Love Lucy

I'M BAAACK!

That was fast, wasn't it? Well, this chapter is pretty short, and I had it mapped out in my head. I've actually had this about 70% done for like a week. But alas, school got in my way.

Guess what! It's this account's birthday! :D I've had this account for a year now. In that time, I've published 33 stories. I write too much.

Um, on to the fic! I do have something pretty important to say about this chapter.  
This chapter, although short, is the first chapter of Lucy's plotline of the story! Yes, Lucy's been a main character from chapter one, but it's now time for her to really take the stage as the second main character of this fic! Obviously, this plotline has a lot of NaLu. From now on, we'll have Erza's story and Lucy's story going on at the same time. The chapters will feature the both of them, though.

Enjoy!  
-RD :D

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Eight: I Love Lucy

.x.x.x.

_Mama,_

_Things are going really well! I know I haven't written in a while. But I've been pretty busy with class and work and all. You know that place, Fairy Tail? I got a job there, courtesy of Natsu! And I've made some new friends, too! Erza is my next door neighbor and she's really cool. She's a good leader, and she tried to get onto the student council but didn't make it. It was really sad. Then there's Gray. He's pretty stupid sometimes, but he's nice and I know he means well. He and Erza have some heated rivalry I don't really get. They just yell at each other. On Monday, they seemed to get along better, but it's Wednesday now and they're back at it all over again. Another friend I've met is Juvia. Juvia is really sweet, but kind of ridiculous. She has this huge crush on Gray, but it's entirely one-sided. I just don't want her to get hurt. Then there's Natsu. I mentioned him in my last letter. He and I get along pretty well, but he's pretty dense. Sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's annoying. But he's a great guy and I'm glad I met him._

_Well, Mama, I have to get to school. I'll write you later!\_

_Lucy_

The blonde groaned loudly and placed her head on the counter.

"Mira, what am I going to do?"

"About what?" Mirajane wiped down the Fairy Tail counters in preparation to go home.

"About school! Being a freshman is pretty difficult… My writing class is killer!"

"Oh… Maybe you should get a boyfriend. To help you relax."

"Yeah," Lucy scoffed, trying to ignore the background noises from Gray and Erza's latest spat. "That'll be the day. I don't even have anyone to date."

"Well, I've always thought that you and Natsu would make a cute couple," Mira said, putting a finger to her chin.

"WHA-!" Lucy gasped, almost falling off the barstool. "Me and NATSU? Never in a million and five years!" She tried to ignore the fact that her cheeks were about as red as Erza's hair, but it didn't work.

"Really? You never know. Natsu could be in love with you." Mira flashed Lucy a huge smile and the blonde sighed.

Never in a million and five years.

Thursday afternoon, Natsu and Lucy walked down the steps of Magnolia University and out toward the parking lot, relieved that yet another grueling day of college was over.

"So, see you later, Lucy!" he called as he walked toward a car.

"Wait!" she yelled, chasing after him. "I thought you didn't have a car!"

"He doesn't," said a third voice. From the other side of the car came Gray Fullbuster, a wide smirk on his face. "I know what you're thinking. Nice, right?" Lucy looked at the red sports car in front of her. She had known that Gray was never strapped for cash, but she certainly hadn't expected him to have a car - and a really nice one at that.

"Wait, Natsu…" she began slowly, pointing at the car. "You're getting inside that _thing_?"

"Hey! Don't call my car a thing!"

But no one paid attention to Gray's plea. "He gets motion sickness. And he's getting in a _car_."

"Gray's place is too far for me to walk," Natsu replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "We wouldn't have as much time to study before work if I walked."

"You're going to Gray's?"

"Yeah. We're going to study for our humanities class, 'cause we have a huge test coming up. You wanna come?" Gray asked, leaning against his car.

"I'll pass. I've got… _stuff _to do," Lucy lied, not knowing what to say.

"Alright." The two boys stepped into the car. Lucy walked out into the lot, suddenly realizing how hot it was for November and how long the walk to her house would be and how tired she was and…

The car pulled up in front of her as Gray rolled down the window and smirked.

"…Don't say anything."

"So, where can I drop you off?" Gray asked, looking at Lucy in the rear view mirror.

"Um… I think I'll just come with you guys. I've never been to your house before."

"Uh, okay." He could only assume it was fair. After all, he had been in her house before - and she hadn't invited him.

The drive down 13th Street was rather slow. Traffic was a mess when you were driving at that time, something Lucy had never really noticed since she didn't have a car.

"Are you sure this would take less time than walking?" Lucy asked skeptically as she leaned toward the two boys in the front seat.

"Yes!" Gray said back. "Once we get off this street, the ride is pretty traffic-free."

The blonde almost asked 'Where do you live?' but was cut off by a loud groan from the passenger's seat. "Natsu? Are you alright?" He turned to face her, looking utterly sick, and mumbled some gibberish that she couldn't make out. "Gray, hurry up and drive faster! Natsu's dying here!"

"I'm getting there! Sheesh…" Gray grumbled as he turned off 13th Street.

Gray's house was larger than Lucy would've initially imagined. It was a red brick two-story, probably with three or four bedrooms.

"You live here?" Lucy asked in shock. This place looked like the house her father wanted to buy her near her old college.

"Uh, yeah."

"By yourself?"

But Gray didn't seem to hear her question. "Dangit, where did my keys go?" He patted all his pockets until he found a key ring and walked to the door.

They enter the house, which was surprisingly neat. There were clothes spread around in odd places, but other than that, it was an average house. When one entered, there was a large living room with a humongous TV. Behind the living room was a nicely sized kitchen. That was where Gray went to grab some snacks for the trio. He came back with a large bowl of popcorn and plopped down on the couch.

"Alright, so… What's our test over?"

"You're in the class!" Lucy yelled. "Aren't you supposed to know?"

"I guess so," Natsu said as he grabbed two large handfuls of popcorn and shoved them into his mouth. "Buf I haf no fue."

Lucy rolled her eyes. "I think Erza is taking a humanities class this year. Is she in your class?"

"Nope. I only have one class with Erza, and that's calculus," replied Gray. "But she might be taking the same class. Maybe we should call her anyway."

"Alright." The blonde whipped out her phone, frowning when she came to an important realization.

"What is it?"

"I don't know Erza's number." Gray almost fell off the couch at the sheer ridiculousness of it all.

"Then how are we supposed to call her?"

"I know it!" Natsu said, grabbing Lucy's hand and pulling it toward himself.

"N-Natsu!" she stuttered, getting pinker by the second. "How do you know Erza's number?"

"I had her tutor me over the phone once." He pulled his own cell phone out of his pocket and scrolled through his contacts.

"If you have her number in your phone, why are you using mine to call her?"

"Oh. Good point." But by that time, he had already put the number in Lucy's phone so the blonde sighed and hit the "talk" button.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Erza!" Lucy said cheerfully. "Do you take humanities?"

"_Yes, first period. Why do you ask?"_

"Well, I'm here with Natsu and Gray, and they said they have a big test coming up, but they're not sure what to study."

"_That's rather idiotic of them."_

"Erza… You know you're on speaker, right?"

"_Oh," _the redhead said as Natsu and Gray glared at Lucy's phone. _"Gray, Natsu, what unit are you guys on?"_

"Um, I think we're on the end of the Renaissance," Gray said as he joined Natsu and Lucy on the floor. "Like when the Spanish attacked Rome and stuff."

"_Chapter nine."_

"Thanks, Erza!" Natsu said happily as he got out his textbook.

Two bowls of popcorn, one broken plate, and twelve pillow-smackings later, Lucy stood up to leave.

"Well, guys, I'll see you at work."

"I could take you," Gray offered, flipping through his book.

"Nah, I need to stop by the grocery store real quick anyway."

"Do you need a ride?"

"No! Will you shut up about your car?" She sighed heavily and threw her messenger bag over her shoulder. "Later, guys."

"Later, Lucy!" Natsu called, giving her a smile and a wave.

While Lucy was on her way out, Gray told Natsu to turn on the TV as he went to go get some more popcorn.

"What's that?" Gray asked, pointing to the TV screen.

"Um… 'I Love Lucy.'

"What did you say?"

"'I Love Lucy'!"

As Lucy closed the door, she heard odd noises from inside the house. Some of it sounded like an argument, but the last thing she heard was weird. It was fuzzy, but Lucy was positive she had heard Gray yell,

"What did you say?"

To which Natsu replied,

"I love Lucy!"

"_I. Love. LUCY?"_

She took off running and didn't stop until she had reached the Richardson Plaza.

* * *

Gosh, I'm so mean to Lucy. I know you guys can all tell what that was based on. I love that episode/chapter though and couldn't help using that as a basis for Lucy's plot. x3 There wasn't really any Erza in this... She's going to be in the next one and a LOT in the two chapters after that. :)

Shoutouts~

MANGA1 - Yay! I can't wait! :)  
lil'chrome-chan - There will be GrayZa fluff in the next chapter. x3  
Gerkyhen - Haha, I liked the snack bar part too. xD  
HanaIchi Ikari - I know! :D And no, I haven't seen Coyboys and Aliens. I want to though. xD  
Elemental Dragon Slayer - Ah! I wanna see it! Was it good?  
Cristinne - Yeah, I'm pretty bad about changing scenes. Dx I'll do my best to improve and give better transitions!  
Maifan4231 - Aha! That's just it though! Erza and Gray AREN'T friends, so she doesn't respect him like that. That's a really good point though.  
writergirl127 - I'm glad you like it! Not many people support Erza/Gray. It's kinda sad, especially since I like it so much.  
|Hypocrisy| - Yes! You will see that later. :) And I liked that line too. x3  
AkixYuseiGRL - You'll find out why in a few chapters. And yay, now I can watch the whole series all the way through! :)


	9. The Not Exactly Love Triangle

WAHHHH! I've missed you guys! School's been kinda rough lately and then I have my volunteer work and then there's been so much DRAMA... ugh. Let's just say that boys are REALLY dumb. Even the ones you're not romantically inerested in. I haven't been writing much at all over the past two months.

I'm sorry... This chapter is another short one. But that's because I divided chapters nine, ten and eleven up at the start of the story and I want them separated like that. Chapter ten is another shortie, but eleven... is probably my favorite point in the entire plotline. It's just my weird OCDness. I gotta have them this way.

Oh, and Lisanna comes in this chapter. I promise, all you guys who hate her will absolutely love her in my story. Maybe not in this chapter, but later. I promise.

Enjoy, despite my lateness!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Nine: The Not-Exactly Love Triangle

.x.x.x.

"_Natsu. Natsu loves me. NATSU LOVES ME!" _"AH!" Lucy let out a cry of distress, ignoring the odd looks she received from the Fairy Tail customers. She had barely been able to focus on making coffee her whole shift, and she was only thirty minutes into it. _"There's no way we can be together," _she thought with a sigh as she laid her head down on the counter. _"I'm going to have to break his heart. It will probably ruin our friendship, though… It's just not possible for us. I'm not interested in a serious relationship right now…."_

Forcing herself to keep her head up, she placed her chin in her hand and waited for someone to come and order something. Across the shop, she saw Natsu sitting next to a girl with short white hair. Lucy scoffed. _"He's in love with me, but he's with that other girl? Oh, please." _But then, and idea entered her head.

"Wait a second," the blonde said aloud. "If Natsu's dating that girl, then I don't have to reject him!" She let out a small laugh, once again earning looks from the customers. "It's so perfect!"

"What's so perfect?" Lucy whipped around to see Erza. A small smile came to her face.

"Um, Erza, who's that girl sitting next to Natsu?"

"Oh, her? That's Mira's little sister, Lisanna."

"Lisanna, eh?" A smile came to the blonde's face. "I think I'll go introduce myself!" She sauntered off, leaving Erza alone.

"Hey, hey, Sparky."

"Sparky?" the redhead asked, raising an eyebrow as she turned to come face-to-face with Gray Fullbuster.

"Yeah. Sparky. 'Cause your hair is red, and sparks start fire." He grabbed a piece of her hair and began to twist it around his finger. "Plus, half the time, you look like you're mad enough to be on fire," Gray said with a grin, which disappeared when Erza smacked his hand.

"Quit touching my hair. And you're terrible at coming up with nicknames."

"Man, why are you so mean to me? What have I done to you?"

"What have you done?" Erza asked angrily. "You made me look bad in front of all of Fairy Tail. Half the employees hardly ever listen to me anymore!" she hissed.

Gray stared at Erza for a moment. But then he suddenly burst out into laughter.

"What's so funny?" The redhead crossed her arms over her chest and glared at Gray, who was bent over with laughter.

"You!' he said, wiping a small tear away. "You're so annoyed about the little stuff."

"It's not little stuff!" Erza cried as she stomped her foot. "All you do is break rules, and it drives me crazy!"

"You are _so_ uptight!"

"Am not!" she rebuffed, placing her hands on her hips and giving a disapproving stare.

"Yes you are! I'm going to teach you how to have fun."

"Really?"

"Yeah. This Saturday. We'll take off work."

After thinking for a bit, Erza leaned toward him, a small smirk playing her lips. "One condition." Gray gave her a curious glance.

"What?"

"You're in my calculus class."

"Yeah…"

"And we have a quiz on Thursday."

"Yeah. We do," he said, unable to see where in the world she was going with this.

"Make a higher grade on the quiz than me, and I'll go." Gray wasn't sure if she should accept or decline. Erza was definitely smart, no doubt - not top of the class but not too shy of it. Sure, his grades weren't bad. He actually had a high B in calculus at the moment. However, getting a higher grade than Erza on the quiz would be no trivial task; possible, yet not likely. He thought about it for a few seconds, and then a devious grin appeared on his face.

"You're on!" And they shook.

"Hey! I'm Lucy," the blonde said cheerily as she slid into the third seat at the table Natsu and Lisanna were sharing.

"Hi! Lisanna." The white-haired girl held out her hand for Lucy to shake, giving her a bright smile. Lisanna had blue eyes that looked like the ocean and she seemed nice enough. "I'm Natsu's friend."

"I know Natsu from school."

"Oh, you go to Magnolia?"

"Yep!" Lucy replied with a smile.

"That's where I want to go next year! I haven't been accepted yet, but I submitted an application, so we'll see!"

"Cool! So, how long have you known Natsu here?" Lucy said, not wanting to beat around the bush anymore. She wanted to know what this girl's relationship was with Natsu and how she could get them together and have Natsu out of her hands.

"We've known each other since we were like… five," Natsu said, speaking up for the first time since Lucy had sat down.

"Yeah! I fell down by the sandbox and scraped my knee. Natsu found me and brought me home."

"Where your sister almost murdered me!"

"You mean Mira?" Lucy asked incredulously. "_She_ almost murdered you? How is that possible?"

"My sister had her rougher days…" Lisanna said nervously. "She changed a couple years back."

"When you almost got hit by that truck!" Natsu yelled angrily. Lucy's expression immediately changed. She had never seen him show so much concern for anyone before.

"Natsu! Will you quit talking about that? I'm fine now," the white-haired girl said back. "Sorry about that, Lucy. Anyway, Mira's changed a whole lot. She was the toughest girl in Magnolia before."

"Wow," said Lucy. "What about Erza?"

"Erza moved here about a year ago," Natsu said. "She and Mira didn't like each other at first. But by that time, Mira wasn't as rough anymore so Erza became the new toughest girl."

"Hmm…" The blonde tilted her head to the side. "What about Gray?"

"We went to high school together!" Lisanna smiled, like she was recounting pleasant memories. "Me, Natsu, Gray and Erza. But Erza was only there for my junior year before she graduated. Now they've all left me behind for college!"

"It's kind of amazing that you, Gray, and Erza all ended up at the same college," Lucy said. "That must be great for all of you!"

"I guess so." Natsu propped his head up with his hand. "But I doubt this year would've been as great without you, Lucy!" The blonde blushed at the gigantic smile on his face.

"_Wait," _she thought. _"This isn't how this is supposed to go!" _

"Oh, man, look at the time!" Lisanna exclaimed, looking at her phone. "It's almost six. I gotta go. I have a big physics test tomorrow. Later, Natsu!" She gave the boy a hug before extending her arms to Lucy. "Bye, Lucy!" The blonde hesitantly hugged Lisanna back, feeling odd about hugging her "love rival" for Natsu. Of course, _Lucy_ didn't want Natsu. _He _wanted her. Twisted logic aside, the hug was awkward. But Lucy decided it was best to smile and act all friendly. She'd have to if she wanted Lisanna and Natsu together.

After Lisanna had left, Lucy and Natsu had walked over back to the counter before Erza came to yell at them for slacking off. But as they returned to their posts, they saw a rather depressed-looking Gray with his head down on the counter.

"Oi, Fullbuster," Natsu said, poking him. "You alive?"

"Gray? Are you alright?"

"…No," came the quiet reply. "I am such an idiot."

"Other than the obvious, what's wrong?" Lucy asked. He lifted his head and glared at her.

"You're a horrible person."

"Hey!" Lucy placed her hands on her hips in a huff. "Can you just get to the point and tell us what's up?"

Gray sighed heavily. "I… I made a bet with Erza."

"WHAT?" Natsu and Lucy exclaimed simultaneously.

"Yeah… I have to get a higher grade than her on our next calculus quiz."

"Oh," the blonde said. "That's not _too_ bad, is it?"

"Normally, it wouldn't be a big deal. I like math and I'm good at it. But we started this new chapter last week, and I don't get it. At all."

"Do you need a tutor?"

"Do you even take calculus?"

"No," Lucy admitted. "But I bet we could find you someone who can help you."

"Nah, I don't need help," Gray said as he propped his head up on his hand. "I want to do this myself."

"What do you get if you win?" Natsu asked.

"I'm going to teach her how to have fun."

"…BWAHAHAHA!"

"You guys!" Gray yelled at his friends, who were doubled over in laughter.

"Gray, you really are an idiot," Lucy said as she wiped a tear away. "Why in the world would you want to do something as potentially life-threatening as that?"

"Because I'm worried about her." Natsu and Lucy gave him a curious look but let him finish. "She's so uptight and only has a mind for work. She's gonna run herself into the ground if she doesn't take a break at some point."

"Wow, Gray. I didn't know you were capable of caring about anything." That comment earned Natsu a glare from Gray.

"Maybe he likes her." The coy smile on Lucy's face along with laughter from Natsu were getting on his nerves.

"No way," he said, turning away, his cheeks slightly pink. Gray gazed across the room where the redhead was talking to a customer and making a coffee. "I'm just worried."

* * *

Wahaha, Gray thinks he's too cool to openly care about Erza so he picks on her instead. XD

HanaIchi Ikari - Haha, thanks. I really couldn't help it. xDD  
MANGA1 - Aww, you're plenty special (okay that sounds weird. Sorry, lol)  
kpopgurl88 - Thank you!  
Senbei x Cup Ramen - Haha, that was a cliff hanger. xD  
lil'chrome-chan - There's more GrayZa in this one! Lol :)  
Gerkyhen - Haha, yes he should. xD  
HeartGold12 - Those are all great ideas. I think I'll use the barbie one when I get to the Chrismas chapters. xD  
Elemental Dragon Slayer - Yeah, I'm really awful to poor Lucy.  
AkixYuseiGRL - Haha, no. It was pure coincedence. xD  
karu-14 - Whoop, GrayZa :D  
BlueMoon - Haha, thank you! Yes, Gray and Erza are cluelessly in love. xD  
MaiFan4231 - Thank you :D  
|Hypocrisy| - Yeah, they are hopeless. But that's why we love them!  
WriterGirl127 - There's gonna be a lot of Erza in the next couple chapters. :D  
I. LOVE. LOVE. LOVE. YOU - (Sorry, it wouldn't let me type your name correctly) Thanks a lot! :D

I will try to have the next chapter up soon. Let's say... 2 weeks? It's short and I already started. Here's to hoping I get it done!


	10. Ace of Grades

Poooop, I'm late again. However, when I said two weeks, I did not forsee the three papers I would be writing in that timespan. -_- My last two papers got turned in today! I'm done! YAY! History, English, and science papers are no fun. I would much rather write fanfic.

Enjoy!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Ten: Ace of Grades

.x.x.x.

"Come in!" Erza called to the person knocking on her door. Lucy stepped inside apartment 412, closing the door behind her. Soft music filled the room, and Erza herself was sprawled out on the couch with a large book open in front of her.

"What're you listening to?" Lucy asked as she sat down in a chair.

"The Afters," Erza replied, her eyes never leaving the book. The blonde played with her fingers for a minute while an awkward silence filled the room.

"Um… Erza?"

"Hm?"

"What are you reading?"

"My calculus textbook." As she lay stomach-down on the couch, the redhead kicked her feet back and forth in the air.

"Why would you read a _math _textbook?" Lucy asked, thoroughly disgusted with her least-favorite subject.

"Because. I am going to defeat Gray!" she yelled, shooting up into a standing position on the couch. Lucy jerked back in shock. "He is going to suffer losing this bet!"

"W-what do you get if you win?" asked the blonde, slightly terrified.

"I don't know." Erza plopped back down on the couch. "I never really thought about that. Maybe I should have him admit that he's inferior to me in front of all of Fairy Tail," she pondered, a hand on her chin.

Lucy laughed nervously. "Um, sure!"

Meanwhile, at the Fullbuster residence, a similar situation was happening.

"Gray? You're actually studying?' Natsu exclaimed. He had been hoping to drag his friend/enemy out to the park to kick around a soccer ball, but had found Gray at home. _Studying_.

"Yep," said Gray. He scanned the pages of his calculus book with great interest - more interest than he had shown in just about anything school-related all year. He was going to understand integration by parts if it killed him. Not really, but he was bent on beating Erza. He hated losing, and how bad would it look if he lost to a _girl_? Especially Erza, who was his biggest rival next to Natsu?

"You're so lame!"

"You wanna say that again, flame-head?"

"Bring it on, ice-pants!"

Suddenly, Gray's phone rang, stopping the fight. "It's Lucy," Gray said as he picked it up. "What's up?"

"_Gray, are you sure this is a good idea?"_ Lucy asked, sounding rather nervous.

"Uh, yeah. Why?"

"_Because Erza is going crazy over this. She's studying like mad!" _Gray swallowed. If Erza was studying hard, that would only make it even harder for him to beat her.

"Hey, Lucy? I gotta go. Talk to you later!"

"_Wait, Gray! No, don't-" _And the line went dead.

Gray threw his phone back on the couch and resumed his studying.

"You're dumb," Natsu said, his arms crossed.

"Aw, shut up. Go bother Lucy or something."

Surprisingly, the pink-haired boy replied with an "Okay!" and was soon out of Gray's hair.

Now, he could focus.

"Been studying, Scarlet?" Gray asked as he and Erza walked into the main room of Fairy Tail.

"What else did you expect?" she replied with a smirk on her face. "Oh, and I want to raise the stakes."

He lifted an eyebrow. "Do you?"

"Yes. If I win, you have to admit to all of Fairy Tail that you are inferior to me." Erza grinned at him with a smile that was awfully strange, somewhere between wicked and sweet.

"And if _I_ win," Gray began, "then we're going to have a great time Saturday," he reminded her.

"Don't count on it," she said as she walked away.

Two days of insane studying, arguing, and many coffee cups later, it was Thursday.

The students filed into second period, most of them looking bored or apathetic. However, there were two particular students who wore looks of sheer determination to obliterate this quiz - and each other.

Gray and Erza sat on either side of the aisle down the middle of the classroom, at the second seats from the front of the room, and smirked at each other.

"You're going down," Gray mouthed, pointing at her. Erza shook her head.

"Prepare to be destroyed," she mouthed.

All last-minute studiers were forced to put their notes away as the teacher began to pass out the quiz. The second the paper reached their hands, Gray and Erza turned it over and began to write like mad. They had half an hour to take the quiz, but they weren't planning to waste even a second.

Meanwhile, Natsu and Lucy sat in their chemistry class. They were doing another lab, and the two had partnered up for the sole reason that no one else in the class wanted to be with Natsu for a chem lab for fear of catching fire.

"I wonder how Gray and Erza are doing," Lucy mumbled as she looked out the window. Natsu was doing most of the lab by himself because he rather enjoyed chemistry, and Lucy's mind was a bit preoccupied. Soon Natsu had finished - before anyone else in the class - and he and Lucy were allowed to go out to the commons area, as the class was not going to do anything else for that day.

Out in the commons area, Natsu grabbed his iPad and immediately began to play _Angry Birds_. Lucy bought a Coke at the vending machine and sat down next to him.

"Who do you think will win?" she asked.

"Win what? YES!" Natsu said as he knocked down half the pigs with one bird.

"The bet, of course! Who do you think will win the bet?"

"Gray and Erza's bet?" Natsu asked as he continued to fire the birds. "Umm, Gray, I guess."

"Really?" The blonde lifted an eyebrow. "I think Erza will win. Gray doesn't seem very smart to me."

He shook his head. "Nah, Gray's smart. He just doesn't think a lot. Look." Natsu opened the internet on his iPad and went to the school website. He then proceeded to type in a user name and password. "On this website, you can see your grades and stuff."

"Other people's too?" Lucy asked, feeling rather nervous about the idea of other people seeing her grades.

"No, just yours."

"Then how are you seeing Gray's?"

Natsu smiled. "I stole his password last month." The blonde glared at him for doing such a thing but let him continue clicking around until Gray's grades popped up. Much to Lucy's surprise, they were all mid to high Bs or low As.

"Those are _Gray's_ grades?"

"Yep," Natsu said. "Told you so."

"How come he seems so boneheaded?"

"Well, he's kinda lazy. He doesn't put a whole ton of effort into studying or anything. He hasn't decided on a major yet, so he really doesn't see the point right now."

Lucy still gaped at the screen. She could hardly believe it. "What about your grades?"

"Some Cs, some Bs, and one A."

"What's the A in?"

"Chemistry!" he replied with a smile. That was quite a shock, too. How could someone like Natsu do so well in such an awful and difficult class? "I don't know about the bet though," he said after a moment of quiet. "Erza's pretty smart herself."

"Wow," she mumbled. "I guess there's no telling how the bet will end."

As Gray walked out of second period, his head hurt a little. He hadn't put that much effort into schoolwork in ages. It was painful to think so hard.

After the quizzes had been collected, their teacher had begun a new lesson, and Gray decided to actually take notes just in case he got challenged to any bets in the near future. As he was walking down the hall, he noticed Erza walking not too far away, a proud smile on her face.

"She probably got an A…" he muttered. Suddenly, he felt someone tap his shoulder, and he turned around to find it was the same girl he had been thinking about just before.

"Gray," she said politely.

Oh, she was just playing with him now.

"Erza," he said back. "So, how was losing?" Even if she probably won, he had to put up a confident front or else he'd look weak in front of her.

And if that happened, he'd never hear the end of it.

"How 'bout you ask yourself that?"

Gray smirked at her and said, "Keep on dreaming, Scarlet."

As he walked away, the grin on Erza's face faded. Secretly, she was also unsure of what she had made. This concept was difficult for her, and even though she had studied for hours - something she would never tell Gray - the quiz had been no walk in the park.

Well, she'd just have to wait until the next day when they got their scores.

When Gray arrived at Fairy Tail, he was still feeling rather uneasy. He'd have to admit his incompetence in front of all his co-workers if he lost. Although it seemed like a small price to pay, it'd be a major blow to his ego. Which, at the moment, was rather large.

He was about to walk into the back room when he spotted one of his friends in the shop. "Hey, Drake!" he called. The brown-haired boy turned around and saw Gray coming towards him.

"Gray! What's up?"

"Not much," Gray said with a small smile. "Man, what are you doing here?"

"Getting coffee," Drake said in a "duh" voice as he gestured to the counter.

"You know what I mean."

Drake let out a small laugh. "Yeah, I know. I found this place like a week ago, and it's pretty nice."

"Oh. I work here."

"Cool!"

Unbeknownst to the boys, their conversation had not gone unnoticed. A blue-haired girl was watching the scene with wide eyes.

"Drake and Gray are friends?" Juvia whispered happily. "This gives Juvia the perfect chance to get closer to Gray!" She stood up from her table and walked over to the counter, pretending not to notice Gray and Drake at first. She just stood there and began to hum somewhat loudly to hopefully catch their attention.

And her plan worked. "Hey," Drake called out to her when he noticed her presence. She gave him a smile and a wave and walked toward the two.

"Hi, Drake, Gray."

She saw Gray looking at her strangely, but a grin soon came to his face. "Juvia, right?"

HE REMEMBERED HER NAME!

Juvia could barely think, breathe, or perform any other action. She just smiled a huge smile and nodded before joining in the conversation.

"Gray!" someone called out. "We need your help!" It was Lucy, and she was scrambling all over the place to get people their coffee. She was the only person behind the counter at the time, explaining the line Gray, Juvia, and Drake were standing in.

"Later," Gray said as he went to the back room to change into his Fairy Tail shirt. Juvia waved goodbye, still on cloud nine.

He remembered her name!

The next morning, as Erza walked to second period, all she could think of was whether she had won or not. Nervously, she took a seat near the window and tapped her fingers on the desk. Fortunately, Gray was sitting across the room, so she wouldn't have to talk to him. But unfortunately, that meant she'd have to wait until the end of class to know who had won.

The suspense was evil.

Their teacher came around and passed all the quizzes back face down on the desks. When he got to Erza, there was a small smile on his face. Knowing her calculus teacher, she couldn't tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Erza slowly flipped the piece of paper over and…

A ninety-four! A NINETY-FOUR! That was an A! Erza let out a sigh of relief She had done well, and telling from the look on Gray's face, she won. He didn't look all that confident. She smiled, knowing everything was going to be okay.

After class was over, she practically ran over to Gray, a smug smile on her face.

"Hey, Gray!" she called. He turned around, almost running his face into her quiz paper.

"Whoa. A ninety-four?" Erza placed her hands on her hips and grinned smugly.

"See, Fullbuster? It's obvious which one of us is superior."

He chuckled. "Good job, Scarlet." She nodded.

"Mhm, and now you have to—"

"But not good enough."

He watched the color drain from her face and her mouth drop open. In green pen at the top of his paper was the number ninety-seven.

…

WHAT?

Gray smirked as she continued to stare at him in shock. "See you tomorrow, Scarlet. I'll pick you up at ten."

As he walked away, Erza could still hardly believe it. He beat her. He let her think she won. She had to go who knows where with him the next day.

"WHAT!"

"You lost?" Lucy gasped as she sat down at the lunch table, thinking about the conversation she and Natsu had the day before. _"I guess he was right," _she thought. "What were your grades?"

"I got a ninety-four," Erza replied almost inaudibly, as her head was down on the table. "He got a ninety-seven."

"Wow. Only three points?"

"Three points. And now I have to go do who knows what tomorrow…" The very idea of spending a day with Gray was almost enough to give the redhead a headache.

What in the world would they do?

After arriving at work, Erza stood outside Mr. Makarov's office. Lucy patted the girl on the back as Erza clenched her fists. She had been working for Fairy Tail for almost a year and had never asked for a day off work. Her perfect work record was about to be soiled.

Stupid Gray.

Erza entered the office alone, only to be confronted by the extremely awkward scene of her boss leaning back in his desk chair, sleeping, and snoring rather loudly. The redhead sighed and gently nudged the snoring man awake. He woke with a start, asking about his surroundings before realizing that he was in his office and it was only Erza.

"Master?" she began, accustomed to calling him by the nickname bestowed upon him by the employees.

"Yes, Erza, what do you need?"

"Can I take tomorrow off?"

Makarov stroked his mustache. "Funny, Gray asked for the same thing…" Erza could feel the anger rising inside of her. "Are you two planning on doing something? You're too young and innocent…"

"Master!" she exclaimed, face flushed bright red. "No, I just need to work on… a school project."

"Alright," he said, leaning back in his chair to resume his nap. "You and Gray have fun now."

Erza frowned. There was no way they were going to have fun.

* * *

Tehee, Makarov ships GrayZa. x3 Hope you liked this chapter! I liked Gray letting Erza think she won. xDDD

HanaIchi Ikari - Haha. xD Natsu has no clue that she thinks he loves her. He's totally clueless. xD  
Avatarfan444 - Rest assured that there will be much GrayZa in the next chapter. :)  
MANGA1 - Haha, glad I made your day :)  
Kishin rei - Gracias! ;D (hablo pequeno espanol)  
BlueeMoon - Haha, good observation! I'm basing the NaLu on that episode. xD  
Gerkyhen - Gray is great. And yes, Lucy's being totally foolish. She's obviously crushing hard xD  
AkixYuseiGRL - Huh, I never thought about that. Well, Gray is smart when he feels like thinking. XD  
WhiteTigress13 - Yeah, that relationship is gonna be an adventure, haha  
GrayZa FTW - Oh yeah! He's worried! :D lol  
AngelKnightKaoru - Well, that's not a good reason to dislike her! Uh, thans for the idea, but I already know what I'm going to do with Lisanna. I've got her covered. :)  
lil'chrome-chan - Now you know. xD  
|Hypocrisy| - Thanks :D  
UniverseStarGazer - Haha, thanks so much! There's not a lot of GrayZa fics, so I'm trying to fill the internet with GrayZa lurveee xDDD

I am SO looking forward to the next chapter! It's going to be like... my favorite chapter ever, haha. So I guess I'd better get writing, huh? :)


	11. Autumn's Glory

OH, DEAR READERS! HOW I'VE MISSED YOU AND THIS STORY!  
So yeah, I'm not dead, nor am I giving this story up. I just lost some inspiration (which is weird, since I wrote a lot of this chapter over a year ago. I've been anticipating it forever!) and the last month and a half have been crazy. I made some life decisions, and long story short, I know what I want to do when I grow up! Yay~

Anyhoo, this is lovely chapter 11, which is a long one. I love this point in the story probably more than any other point, because we see Erza open up for the first time, and her relationship with Gray changes. I won't spoil anything else for you. :) But when I began to write this story (which is over a year old now, whoop whoop!) this was one of the first chapters I worked on. I still don't feel 100% satisfied with it. I feel that this scene is too beautiful for me to convey in the words I used, but I tried my best.

On another note (GrayZa fans will enjoy this note), I've pretty much given up on the manga. I honestly don't care which pairing becomes cannon. I'll always love Gray and Erza together, and no manga chapters will ever change that! I can still dream! They're cannon in my head. :D

Happy Valentine's Day! I'm posting today since it's the day of love, lol. (It's still Valentine's Day where I am. Only for like another hour but oh well.)

On yet another note (yeah, I know you want me to shut up already, bear with me) if you've read my story _Butterflies and Mutual Density_, you'll recognize the first scene of this chapter. :D

ENJOY!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Eleven: Autumn's Glory

.x.x.x.

The sound of the knocking rebounded through Lucy's apartment. She poked her head out of the bathroom and poked it back in to finish her hair for the morning.

"Coming, Erza!" Lucy called as she fixed her blonde locks. Upon opening the door, she gasped. "Natsu? What are you doing here?" The only person she would expect a visit from in the morning was her next door neighbor. This was certainly a surprise; whether it was pleasant or not, Lucy wasn't sure.

"Came by before work," he mumbled, taking a good look at her place, which he hadn't seen in a while. "Got any breakfast?" Lucy rolled her eyes and went to the kitchen. Natsu, closing the door behind him, walked over to where she was pouring cereal and peeped over her shoulder.

"You know, you could just get breakfast on the way to work," chided the girl as she handed him the bowl. "There are plenty of restaurants on 13th Street."

"Yeah, but none of them are as fun to come to."

She couldn't help but crack a smile.

Gray took a hand out of his pocket… and quickly stuffed it back in. Sure, this was the address Natsu gave him, right next door to Lucy's at that. But he still felt nervous just showing up at Erza's house. Maybe he should have called. Wait, that would be a bad idea; he didn't even have her number, and if he got it, she would have interrogated him as to how. He could have told her at work, but he didn't. He had said ten the day before, but what if she forgot? Gray figured that it couldn't be helped. After all, it was he who said she was too uptight, who said he would teach her how to have fun, so any consequence suffered from knocking on her door was entirely his fault.

As nervous as he was, he knocked on the door. Nothing happened for about a minute, but soon the redhead came out, wearing nothing but a blue bathrobe.

"E-Erza!" Gray stuttered, surprised to see her in so little. She gave no reply but glared at him and slammed the door in his face.

That went well.

It was another twenty minutes before she came out again. In that time, Gray had sat on the floor next to her apartment door, gotten strange looks from two women walking down the hall, and had his toes stepped on by one of the women's toddler. After plenty of waiting, Erza once again opened the door, which was a relief to Gray - he had begun to wonder if she planned to open it again at all. This time, instead of a bathrobe, she wore a red plaid shirt, brown jacket with fur in the hood, and jeans. That was also a relief to Gray.

"You ready?" he asked. She didn't respond, but headed for the elevator, which he took as a "yes." After they had gotten outside, they walked to the parking garage, where Gray's car was located. Erza ran a hand across the metal - it was a couple shades darker than her hair. She stepped inside the car and settled into the passenger's seat. Gray cast her a happy look as they pulled out of the garage, but Erza looked away.

She was _not_ happy.

Sure, she had made the bet, and sure, she had lost it. But that meant in no way that she _actually_ had to have fun, even if that was Gray's intention. She planned to pretty much stay angry at him all day, which didn't sound too hard, considering that she was angry at him most of the time. She was going to have a bad day, and so was he, hopefully.

Erza frowned and looked out the window. "Why do you want me to do this, anyway?" she asked, trying to sound bored.

"Because you're going to die old and alone if you don't learn to have fun," replied Gray. She expected to see him smirking at her, but instead his expression was serious. The redhead snorted.

"Whatever."

They didn't drive far. Soon the duo wound up at the park beside their college. Gray got out of the car and opened the back seat to get out a soccer ball. "Wanna play?"

"Sure," Erza replied with a shrug. As soon as she had agreed, Gray tore off for a nearby open field. "Hey! Wait up!" yelled the redhead as she began to chase after him.

"Can't catch me, Scarlet?" He began to run backwards so he was facing her. She angrily tried to catch up, not at all happy about the fact that he was teasing her. Soon, they were in the field, and Gray ran about ten feet past her. "Hey, stay over there!" Erza obliged, not minding at all that she got to stop running.

He placed the ball on the ground and kicked it towards her. She stopped it and kicked it back. After about a minute, the kicking got more intense. After two minutes, Gray had just gotten the ball past her and "scored a goal."

"Whoo! Look at that! Fullbuster!" he yelled, doing a miniature celebration move. Erza took this opportunity to kick the ball right past him, scoring her own goal.

"Gray."

"Yeah?"

"Look behind you." He turned around to see the ball kicked past him.

"Hey! That's cheating!" Gray yelled. Erza shook her head, a smirk on her face.

"You never established the rules." Gray grinned, realizing that, unbeknownst to herself, Erza was getting the hang of fun. She was beginning to enjoy herself, even if she didn't want to.

Of course, if he told her all that, it would ruin everything.

"Bring it on, Scarlet!"

After what was probably a good hour of soccer, the two set out for lunch because Gray had heard Erza's stomach growl and then broken into hysterical laughter. All that running had them tired, but it was their fault after all - they each had an insane competitive streak. Erza had narrowly pulled out on top, but Gray said it was only because he had been "going easy on her." Even though that was highly probable, since he had a _soccer_ scholarship to Magnolia University, Erza blew his explanation off and said he was weak.

They walked to a nearby Chick-fil-A at Gray's suggestion. As they walked in, Erza dug out her wallet and stared at it. She didn't have much on her, and paychecks at Fairy Tail wouldn't go out for another week. She almost smacked herself in the face for not having thought about food earlier.

Meanwhile, Gray had already walked up to the counter. "I want a chicken sandwich with large fries, and a spicy chicken sandwich for the fire-hair girl over there," he said, jabbing a finger in her direction.

"Gray," Erza began, coming up behind him.

"Come on, you know you want it," he said with a smirk. Erza looked at the man behind the counter and gave him a shaky smile.

"Excuse us for a minute." She yanked Gray by the jacket a few feet away and leaned in to whisper, "Gray, I don't have a lot of money on me, and I really can't afford-"

"Don't worry," he assured her, a smile on his face. "It's on me."

Erza sighed. "Gray-"

"No buts. I dragged you out here in the first place, so the least I can do is pay for your lunch." He went back to the counter and began to order their food. Erza could feel the heat rushing to her face, but shook her head. This was ridiculous…

…But if he _really_ wanted to pay for it, was she going to complain?

Erza stared out the window at the people passing by on the street. She had nothing better to do; the only other thing to do would be converse with Gray, and that was certainly not better than looking at the street. When she turned to take another bite of her sandwich, she found Gray staring at her.

"Uh, um…" he began, awkwardness so thick you could cut it with a knife. "What's up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "I'm sitting in a Chick-fil-A with you. What did you expect?"

He shrugged. "Just trying to make small talk." Erza rolled her eyes. "I'm having fun. You?"

"What do you think?" she snapped before getting up from her seat and throwing away her trash, save her drink. All of a sudden, she didn't have an appetite anymore. She felt bad about throwing away a third of the sandwich Gray had bought for her, but she convinced herself not to care. Erza walked from the restaurant and began to walk in the direction of the park. Gray scrambled after her moments later, half a chicken sandwich hanging out of his mouth.

Once back at the park, Gray wanted to do something active again, but Erza, still sipping on her lemonade, decided to sit down on a park bench and leave Gray to his own devices.

Apparently, his own devices meant he was going to walk on top of a wall that separated the park from the football field of their college campus.

Erza's eyes widened as he made his way along the precarious wall. "Get down from there!"

"Seriously, I'll be fine!" he yelled back. "You're supposed to relax and have fun, remember?" At this point, Gray's foot slipped and he wobbled uneasily before falling with a scream.

"Gray!" Erza shot up, ran around the railing, and got down on her knees beside her fallen companion, who was lying flat on his back, slightly dazed. "Man, you really are an idiot," she softly laughed as she pushed her red hair out of her face.

All of a sudden, Erza felt herself being yanked down to the ground by the arm. She let out a small cry as she hit a pile of brightly colored leaves.

Gray laughed as she threw leaves at his face in frustration. He picked up a few and threw them back at her, watching them get tangled in her hair.

"Ugh, you!" Erza gave him a shove in the chest, giggling a little herself.

After the laughter died down, a silence fell over the two, and they froze for a moment, exploring each other's eyes.

Erza stood to her feet and dusted off her jacket.

"We should get going." Gray nodded as he pushed himself up.

Erza began to walk away from him and back to her lemonade, which she had left on the bench. She wasn't exactly sure what had happened back there - there was some kind of fluttering in her chest, and it felt odd… and kind of happy.

She didn't like it one bit.

Erza picked up the cup and went who knows where, leaving Gray to scramble after her. He had realized, even though he was supposed to be leading this expedition, he was doing a great deal of following. A smirk slowly made its way to his face as he laughed and shook his head.

"You really make no sense, Erza."

That was what was said as Gray seated himself next to the redhead on another bench. Erza had wandered aimlessly in an attempt to get away from him, and in the process, she wound up on a hill that overlooked all the park and their campus. Eventually, she had given up. There was no getting rid of this guy.

"Half the time you act like you hate my guts, half the time you act like you wanna be my friend, and half the time you just ignore me," Gray continued when she said nothing in reply.

"That's three halves."

"What?"

"You said half three times. There are only two halves in a whole."

Gray stared at his fingers and counted. "Ah, you're right. But I think there are three halves because it's usually a combination of those things." He leaned back on the seat. "You have like, a split personality. It'd be so much easier for me if you just picked one."

"Ignoring you sounds pretty good," she mumbled, placing her chin in her hand.

"Then why aren't you ignoring me now?"

Era looked up at him, eyes flashing with confusion. A couple seconds later when Gray let out a chuckle, she hit him for it.

"You're horrible." He laughed some more and stuck his hands in his pockets as a silence fell over them.

"Are you going to Lucy's Thursday?"

"For Thanksgiving?" she asked. "Uh, yeah. You?"

"Yeah," Gray said with a small shrug. "I have nothing better to do. My family decided to go on vacation to California for the holiday, so I have no one to visit."

"Oh," Erza replied as she began to play with her fingers.

"What's wrong? You look nervous."

"I… I don't like parties," was all she said.

Gray tried not to laugh. "It's not really a party. Lucy only invited like, three people. You, me, and Natsu."

"That's going to be a disaster."

"No kidding." Gray looked at the girl next to him. She avoided his gaze, instead staring out at the sky, which was beginning to have shades of orange and purple in it. Could it really be that late? Gray figured he had lost track of time. And now, since it was the end of November, the sun would set earlier, too.

"Why don't you like parties?"

Erza sighed. "Parties and I have a bad history."

"Care to explain?"

I, uh…" Gray nodded. He understood if she didn't want to talk. He was about to stand up when she blurted out, "My thirteenth birthday was the worst. When I blew my candles out, one of them fell over, and the cake- What? What is it?"

Gray had taken a good look at the girl beside him… and laughed. She had always been Miss No-Nonsense, tougher than steel, stricter than most. But seeing her in this new light was refreshing - this was a side he was sure very few people had ever seen.

"First you yell at me, then you ignore me, and now you tell me the sad story of your thirteenth birthday. Man, you are complex."

Erza sighed. "I don't understand you."

He shrugged. "Are you supposed to?"

Letting go another heavy breath, she replied, "I guess not." She stared out at the sun as it set, beginning to lose herself in shades of orange and pink.

"It's not like I understand you either."

"Huh?" She was broken from her trance by his voice and confusedly turned to face Gray.

"You're always by yourself. You don't have any real friends, other than Lucy, and you're bossy and demanding and really tough-"

"I'm alone because I don't feel comfortable around others. Lucy is just really nice, and I'm lucky to have her. And besides…"

"What?"

"I'm not all that tough." She paused for a few seconds. "I guess I… shut away the part of me that needs other people. It's just- Wait a second, why am I telling _you_ all this?" she yelled as she shot up to her feet. Gray had to be the last person on the _planet_ to whom she wanted to open up. Why was it so easy for her to talk to him, even though she wanted to stab him half the time?

"Because I'm willing to listen." Erza looked at Gray, his trademark smug smile on his face. She slightly laughed and looked down at her feet.

"I _really_ don't understand you."

Gray chuckled. "You're not supposed to, remember? Unless the powerful ice-queen Erza is _that _interested in me. I'd be so flattered," he teased. She gave him a shove on the shoulder before sitting back down. And then, the two just sat there for who knows how long, both enjoying each other's company without needing to voice it. After a while, Erza broke the silence.

"Thanks for listening. It was… nice." Gray gave the girl beside him a questioning look. Not once in his life could he remember Erza thanking him for _anything_. Not the Jeff incident, not for helping her get out of trouble afterwards, not for anything. In fact, Gray was so stunned he hardly knew what to say.

After all that time, he finally got a "thank you."

"…No problem... Erza, can you do me a favor?"

"Hmm?"

"Quit acting like I don't exist." Gray stood up, offering Erza a hand up. "I think I'd rather be yelled at than ignored."

The smallest of smirks came to Erza's lips. "I think I can deal with that." She took his hand and heaved herself up. "It's getting kind of late."

"Yeah." It was dark by then. "Come on, I'll drive you home."

While they walked back to Gray's car, Erza rubbed her hands together and reminded herself that it _was_ November after all and it made sense for it to be cold. Why in the world had she not brought a heavier jacket? She didn't want to seem vulnerable - especially near Gray, who had already seen her in a vulnerable state a handful of times that day.

"You cold?" he asked. She cringed. Just what she needed: his attention.

"Nope!" Erza lied, looking down at her hands, which she was still rubbing together. "I am _fine_."

"Gosh, you are the worst liar on the planet."

"Hey!" she yelled before she felt him drape something warm around her.

"Don't freeze to death, alright?" Gray asked, giving her one of his lopsided grins. "You could've just said you were cold."

Erza pulled his black jacket around herself. "I wasn't cold. But… this _is _nice." He chuckled softly.

"Come here."

"What?" Before she could get an answer, Gray's arm was around her shoulder, pulling her toward his body. His hand rubbed her arm, generating some warmth. "Gray, what are you doing?" she asked, feeling anger well up in her.

"Warming you." Erza resisted the urge to punch that smirk right off his face.

"Aren't you cold?"

"I grew up in Minnesota. This," he said, gesturing to the surrounding area. "Is nothing."

"Let go of me. _Now_."

"Then at least keep the jacket on."

"Fine," Erza mumbled. The jacket was actually really nice, and… WAIT! What was she thinking? This was Gray, her former worst enemy and now kinda-sorta friend, and she was showing him her soft side! AGAIN! This was absolutely ridiculous!

All the way back to the Richardson Plaza, Erza dwelled on her odd behavior. She couldn't be this way. She couldn't-

"You know, you're not half bad, Scarlet."

"You are, though." He shot her a glare, and she held back a laugh.

As they came to a stop, Gray said, "Get out of my car."

"Glad to," came her reply as she opened the door. Despite the harsh-sounding words, there were small, playful smirks on both of their faces, evidence of a friendly bond that had not been there previously.

"See you around, Erza."

"Bye, Gray." Erza turned to face her building as Gray's car pulled off. She sighed and began to walk towards the front doors.

"_Alright," _she thought. _"You won. I did have fun. But only a little. And you shouldn't expect more of this! You just… You got lucky today, Gray Fullbuster!"_

* * *

Whee~ I hope you liked it! I have some time off from school this week, so I'll get cracking on the next chapter. Also, this chapter concludes Part One of the story. There are four parts. Not all of them are the same in length, but it's the four stages of Gray and Erza's relationship. We now move into the friendship stage. Hallelujah. She won't ignore him all the time now! If you thought the day was short, this takes place in the northeastern United States. After daylight savungs ends, you can often see sunsets at four in the afternoon, and it can be dark by five.

HeartGold12 - Sorry to make you wait so long!  
HanaIchi Ikari - lol xD  
Gerkyhen - I'm glad you think it's funny! *feels accomplished*  
AkixYuseiGRL - Gray wants to show her how to have fun. He thinks she's too serious for someone their age and she needs to loosen up. :)  
Avatarfan444 - Yeah, the teachers are still going heavy on the projects. ARG! School xP  
AngelKnightKaoru - Yeah, she's going to have a positive role in the story. I see the sibling bond too.  
lil'chrome-chan - I hope this is enough GrayZa to make up for the wait!  
Kishin Rei - Haha, I try :)  
xXWhiteRose13Xx - BWAHAHA! I'm glad I did! That made my day, really. :)  
rycky - Hopefully I can keep it interesting!  
AnimeLover1885 - Sorry it wasn't soon, hehe  
claudeath17 - Thank you!  
eileene - Not much NaLu in this one, but there will be in chapters to come~  
RednBlack Fever - Oh, yes! GrayZa~  
Atlas - Thanks :)  
Yin005 - Here it is xD  
fufi - :)  
misuzu - GrayZa is the best!  
haruharuna48 - I hope to be updating more soon. :) Thank you!


	12. Of Turkeys and Trouble

Newwww chapter!  
Okay... For once I have nothing to say.

Enjoy!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Twelve: Of Turkeys and Trouble

.x.x.x.

"Ugh, stop making noise," Lucy mumbled as she blindly searched around her nightstand for her alarm clock. Once she had it, she pulled it under the covers with her to turn it off. "I really hate these- Wait.. What?"

_11:30._

Oh, no.

"GWAHHH!" Lucy yelled as she shot out of bed. "They're gonna be here in thirty minutes!"

She had forgotten it was such and important day. Magnolia University students had had the entire week off, so Lucy had grown accustomed to sleeping in very late. However, it was Thursday! And not just any Thursday; the one Thursday every year when Americans stuff themselves to the gills with food: Thanksgiving.

Although Lucy had done a deal of her cooking the previous night, she still needed to cook the turkey, and that alone would take maybe two hours. She also hadn't started on any deserts. All that, and her guests would arrive in thirty minutes?

"Okay, get a hold of yourself, Lu," she said. "Just start making the turkey. You can go buy deserts… Ugh, stupid!" Smacking herself in the forehead, Lucy went into the kitchen to begin cooking.

This was a calamity. Well, not the cooking part. She had already marinated the turkey, so putting it in the oven was easy. The hard part would be getting all the side dishes ready… and running to the store to pick up some pre-made desert.

But wait! What store would be open on Thanksgiving?

"Stupid!" Lucy yelled in frustration at herself. Gaining an idea, she raced over to her laptop and began to search the internet. Could it be? Yes!

"Hallelujah!" she screamed. Wal-Mart was open. Of course, it _would_ be the only store in America open on Thanksgiving. That was kind of horrible, but very convenient.

"Alright! I just need to get ready and-"

_Ding-dong._

Lucy looked at the clock on her computer. It was noon.

Aww, man.

Lucy combed through her hair with her fingers, hoping to look somewhat presentable, and strode over to the door. On the other side of it stood Erza.

"I am exactly on time," the redhead announced, glancing at her watch. Lucy sighed. Erza _would_ arrive at twelve on the dot. Why hadn't she just called and told them to come later? But sadly, it was too late now.

"Erza, I need you to do me a favor. I have to go to the store to pick up some last-minute things. Natsu and Gray will be here soon… Can you let them in and make sure they don't break anything? I'll be back in thirty minutes, I hope."

"Um, yes, okay," Erza said as she stepped inside. Lucy gave her a grateful smile before rushing into the bathroom to get ready. Soon, she was out the door and running down the hallway of her apartment building.

"Hey," a voice called out. Lucy stopped running to realize she had just raced past Natsu. "Where are you going?" he asked as he fell into step with her. "Your apartment's that way."

"I know. I just gotta… go somewhere."

"Where somewhere?"

"Um…"

"Where?"

"Ugh!" Lucy yelled, stopping in her tracks. "I need to get some last-minute food for our dinner, alright?"

"Food?" Natsu asked. "Can I come?"

Lucy was about to say no when she realized that he could help her carry bags. "Alright, you can come." Natsu gave a cheer before rushing off with her.

Erza continued to stare at the door. She hadn't done anything else since Lucy left, but neither Natsu nor Gray had come yet, so she continued to stare.

The only reason she stopped staring was the ringing of her cell phone.

"Hello?"

"_Hey, Erza." _It was Lucy. _"What's going on over there?"_

"Nothing. No one's come yet."

"_Natsu's with me. I guess Gray is just late," _Lucy said into her phone.

"_Great," _Erza thought. That meant she'd have to be alone with Gray until Lucy and Natsu got back. "Alright. See you later, Lucy."

"_Bye." _Not twenty seconds after the call had ended, none other than Gray Fullbuster knocked on the door.

"Hey," he greeted when Erza opened the door. "Where's Lucy?"

"Out getting some things," Erza answered, trying to sound casual. The last time she had been alone with Gray, she had almost blurted out her biggest secret. Ever since then, she had tried to be careful of what she said around him. "You can go sit down or something." Gray went over to the couch, and Erza was about to resume staring at the door when she realized she didn't have to. Lucy had a key and could get in on her own. It would look odd for her to just stand in front of the door and wait for Lucy, so Erza too went into the living room, plopping down in a chair. She stayed quiet, playing with her fingers.

"When's Lucy coming back?"

"I don't know," the redhead shrugged. "Maybe in another twenty minutes?"

"Twenty minutes, huh?" Gray slumped down on the couch. "So… How about we just talk?"

Erza moved her chin from her hand, surprised to hear the suggestion. "Talk? About what?"

"Well, I was thinking, since we made a truce and we're friends now, we should get to know each other." Gray smiled and leaned forward on the couch. "Sound good?" Erza simply nodded, still lost in her thoughts. Was he going to ask about what she didn't say the previous Saturday? "So, what do you like to do?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What do I like to do?"

"Yeah, like, in your spare time."

Erza thought for a second before looking back at him. "Sleep."

…

"Bwahahaha!"

"What?" Erza demanded as she shot up from the chair. "What's so funny?"

"I guess that's not so weird," Gray said as he wiped his eyes. "We are in college now. And you seem like the type who'd study their butt off, so you wouldn't get a lot of sleep."

"That's not true," she said, blushing slightly. "I study a lot, but not all the time."

"But you still don't know how to have fun."

"Shut up!"

Natsu strolled along, not really enjoying the cold November weather as he followed Lucy back to her place. As he was walking, he tripped over something. But that something made a sound.

"Meow!"

"Huh?" Natsu walked backward a few steps and looked down. There, in a brown cardboard box, was a small cat with humongous eyes and bluish fur. For Natsu, it was love at first sight. "Hey, Luce, come 'ere!"

"What?" Lucy demanded. Her arms were full of groceries, and she was dying to go home and put down the food.

"I found something!" Natsu placed down his grocery bags, earning a "hey!" from Lucy, and picked up the cat. "Look! Isn't he cute?"

"Put that cat down, Natsu! You don't know where it's been!"

"But I really like him, Luce! Can I keep him?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"YAY!" Natsu cheered, spinning his new pet around. "I'm gonna call you Happy."

"Why Happy?"

"'Cause he looks happy!"

"That's impossible-" Lucy was cut off when Happy was shoved in her face. After a good look at the cat, he did kinda look… happy. "He is sorta cute," she admitted quietly.

Natsu smiled and began to walk off. "Come on, Happy! Let's go to Lucy's!"

"Natsu! Don't leave my groceries sitting on the ground!"

When Lucy opened the door to her apartment, she also opened her mouth so wide it seemed her jaw would hit the floor.

Because right there in front of her, on the floor, were Gray and Erza. Now, that might not seem very surprising, but it was much stranger when Erza was sitting on Gray's back, grabbing his foot, and Gray was holding onto Erza's other arm. The three looked at each other for a few seconds before Natsu walked in the door with his new cat.

"Hey, what's-" Natsu looked at the scene before him and whistled. "_Awkward_." Lucy shot him a glare and shut the door behind him. After exchanging a look, Gray and Erza untangled themselves and walked toward Lucy.

"Lucy, we're-"

"Thirty minutes." The blonde turned around, and Natsu swore the temperature in the room dropped twenty degrees. "All I asked for were thirty stinkin' minutes! But you can't even go that long without fighting. WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"

Everyone in the room stood silent, startled by Lucy's outburst, until Gray asked, "Is that a cat?"

Natsu smiled. "Gray, Erza, meet Happy!"

"Cute…" was all Erza could say.

"Where'd you get him?" Gray asked.

"Found him on the street! He needs a home and stuff so-"

"Is everyone ignoring me!" Lucy yelled. "Anyway, the food will be a while, but you guys can watch football… or whatever men do on Thanksgiving," she mumbled as she walked into the kitchen with her groceries.

Natsu and Gray raced to the TV, quickly getting absorbed in a football game. They sat on the floor, inches from the television, watching every moment. Happy also seemed to be interested in the sport, as he sat in Natsu's lap and watched the game as well. Erza instead settled down on the couch and watched the boys in front of her. For once, they weren't fighting, and it was almost adorable to watch them play with Happy on the floor.

"Cute…" Erza whispered as her mind traveled back to what Gray had said to her just a little while ago.

"_Well, I was thinking, since we made a truce and we're friends now, we should get to know each other."_

How did he go from being her coworker and enemy to being her friend in such a short time? And why was he so interested in her all of a sudden?

"I don't understand!" Erza exclaimed.

Immediately, four pairs of eyes landed on her. Yes, even Happy's.

"Uh, I just don't get why guys like football so much!" Erza said quickly, trying to not seem weird. "It's just a bunch of guys running around and hitting each other!" From the kitchen, Lucy laughed. Natsu scoffed. Happy meowed. And Gray met Erza's eyes.

"I'd think that football would appeal to someone as violent as you," he joked, a small twinkle in his eyes. She sent him a small glare back, noticing the way he looked at her.

He looked at her as if he were challenging her.

Erza knew she'd have to step her game up if they were to continue on like this, and especially if she ever wanted to win the unnamed game they had wound up in. But what she said to Gray as Lucy called them into the kitchen for prayer was, "Bring. It. On."

* * *

HanaIchi Ikari - That was my favorite part too!  
Yin005 - You're very welcome! Knowing I make people happy makes me happy :)  
Misuzu - Thanks :)  
shadowangle9999 - Haha, I know! It's amazing! xD  
Gerkyhen - Thank you!  
rkfollower - I know you! You wrote a story about Natsu and Lucy getting married and Gray proposing to Erza! I love that story! Haha!  
AnimeLover1885 - Me too :)  
Avatarfan444 - Sorry for the slow update, but I hope you like it!  
claudeath17 - Thanks!  
The Most Hard-Core GrayZa Fan - Sorry, not yet ;)  
Frozen Armour - Gosh, I feel the exact same way about the manga. I give up on Mashima. xP  
Erza Fullbuster LOVE - Gracias! Me gustan tus comentarios!  
AnimeLuver1885 - Don't worry, I will eventually finish this.  
SakuraWish316 - Thank you :)  
RednBlack Fever - LOL!  
anon - LOLOLOLOLOL that's hilarious  
| Hypocrisy | - I hope you do! I am really looking forward to your next chapter!


	13. 13

Pfft, late update again. xP I've been very busy, guys. But on the bright side, the next chapter is almost done. Just editing and then sending it off to my beta reader. So yeah :)

Enjoy! (Even though this chpater is weird and I don't enjoy it much myself; it just has to happen for us to move on in the story)  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Thirteen: 13

.x.x.x.

Two weeks passed and things went along in a similar manner to the way they had before. Natsu still ate like there was no tomorrow, Lucy was still on her seemingly hopeless quest to get Lisanna and Natsu together, Erza still yelled, and Gray still made smart comments back. Winter crept up on the group, and soon they were wearing heavier jackets in Magnolia's occasional snow. Before they knew it, it was the week of final exams, and every teacher was either reviewing or leaving the students to study on their own.

"Hey, Gray!" Erza called out before walking over to him. Erza and Gray's relationship was another thing that had changed recently. Although they still fought often, the number of civil conversations between them had increased by one hundred percent. Erza smiled slightly as she listened to the story of how Gray's anatomy professor had cried her eyes out for almost the entire class because her boyfriend dumped her the night before.

As they walked through Magnolia University's halls, the redhead couldn't help but notice how many people greeted Gray. Despite the fact that there were many unfamiliar faces going through the hallways, he had said hello to a handful of them. Erza even noticed a few stares directed at her. _"That's right,"_ she thought. _"I had almost forgotten how popular Gray is here. I guess I didn't notice so much since I mostly see him outside of school." _Gray, however, barely seemed affected by all the attention he received. _"At least he doesn't let it go to his head, like I thought he would."_

"Erza," he said, pulling her from her thoughts. "What's today's date?"

"Why?" she asked as she began to dig out her phone to check.

"I forgot."

She rolled her eyes. "It's the… eighth." Her facial expression immediately became troubled. "Oh… Gray, I gotta hurry and get to my next class. It's on the other side of the school," she mumbled, looking everywhere but at him. She was a horrible liar, but she didn't want to let him see her upset.

He turned to her and, noticing the look on her face, asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, no, it's nothing. I just have to go now," she said before running off.

Gray's lips pulled into a frown. "With you, it's never nothing."

Lucy strolled up the streets of Magnolia with a large smile on her face, enjoying the free time she had in between school and work.

"Now, what am I gonna do?" she asked herself. "Do I go shopping? I haven't bought a new outfit in a while. I've been so busy with school and all…"

Just as she thought that, a fancy black car pulled up by her and parked on the edge of the busy street.

"What the heck," Lucy said aloud as two tall, muscular-looking men in suits got out of the car and began to walk toward her. Lucy turned away and pretended not to notice them, casually continuing down the street. After a few seconds, she turned her head around to see that the men were following her. "What?" she whispered. She quickened her pace, but one of the men grabbed her by the arm.

"Excuse me, miss," he said.

"Let go!" Lucy tried to smack him with her purse, but the other man stopped her.

"Are you Lucy Heartfilia?" Lucy tried to struggle again, but she couldn't get away.

The second dug something out of his suit jacket pocket. "This is from your father," he said, handing Lucy an envelope. The first guy let go of her arm, and the men got back into the car.

"What is this?" she muttered, looking at the envelope. When she read the return address, she gasped.

"Oh, no."

"_Hello, Jellal Fernandes's office?" It was a woman's voice._

"_Hello, this is Erza Scarlet. I'm a…" She stopped. What exactly was she to Jellal? Ex-girlfriend? Current girlfriend, since they never formally broke up? "Friend of Jellal's." The word "friend" seemed to be alright. This woman didn't need to know of her relationship with him._

"_Oh, I see. I'll go get him," the voice said. "I'll put him on in a second, Erza. I'm Miss Milkovich, Mr. Fernandes's secretary." Erza remained quiet and began playing with the ends of her hair._

"_Erza?" She was pulled from her absentmindedness by that hauntingly familiar voice._

"_Jellal!" Erza yelled into the phone, tears stinging at the back of her eyes. "I-I've missed you."_

_He chuckled. "Same here."_

"_When can I see you again?"_

_There was a pause on the other end of the line. "Erza," Jellal said, the playfulness entirely gone from his tone. "I can't see you."_

"_Why not?" she asked, barely speaking above a whisper._

"_Because," he sighed. "Erza, I want you to know that I love you."_

"_You love me?" This was both expected and shocking; expected because they had been in a relationship for three years, and shocking because Jellal had disappeared, his only hint to his destination being Washington, D.C. _

"_I do. Enough to keep you away." Erza was about to ask "from what," but Jellal continued without letting her interject. "I've gotten into… some political trouble. There's a bit of a scandal, and I think someone may have it out for me." He laughed. "Erza, even though you mean a lot to me, I can't see you. Right now, my career and my life are in danger. I… I can't drag you into this."_

"_What are you talking about?" Erza screamed into the phone. "I can handle it! I want to be by your side! To fight with you!"_

"_You'll only get hurt-"_

"_Who cares?" She cried, the tears running down her face. "I can do it. Just let me see you, Jellal."_

"_Erza," he said, the tone of his voice sounding more firm than she had ever heard it before. "I will not be the cause of your suffering. I will not hurt you. I got myself into this mess alone, and I will come out alone. I love you, but there is no future for us now. Not a happy one."_

_Erza's hands shook, and her eyes were red from crying. "Why can't you let me have what I want?"_

"_Because what you want isn't always what you need. I'm sorry, Erza, but we can't be together. I'm only protecting you."_

"_I'm not a child anymore," she hissed. "I don't need protecting. And if you really love me like you say you do, you would let me come to Washington."_

"_I do love you. Enough to let you go. We can still talk. But a serious relationship isn't in our best interest. Erza, I have to see a client. I'll speak with you later."_

"_No…" Erza said as his voice faded away… As the phone in her hands faded away. "Don't go. Don't go! DON'T GO!"_

Erza woke up screaming.

The walk to Fairy Tail was long and quiet for Erza. She was more than twenty minutes late, but she could hardly make herself care.

"It's been so long since I had that dream…" She sighed, running a hand through her long red hair. Her dream - no, nightmare - had truly disturbed her beyond words._ "It's been a year. A year today. I'm not _supposed_ to dream about him anymore. I'm supposed to forget him."_

Upon reaching the coffee shop, she heaved the door open and immediately fled to the back room before anyone could ask her any questions. However, right when she walked in the room, someone grabbed her by the shoulder.

"Gray," she sighed. "Let go. Now." Instead of doing what she said, he ignored and pulled her closer to him.

Gray leaned down and whispered in her ear, "You got lucky. I told Makarov you were feeling sick. Where have you been? You're never late."

"Long story," she mumbled, throwing her things onto the table nearby. Gray kept looking at her, obviously not accepting her short answer. His attention made Erza nervous, and she looked in another direction. "I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be out in a few minutes," she said before shoving him away from her. Gray huffed and leaned on the table, staring at the employee's bathroom door. Erza had never been late to work before. Ever. There had to be something she wasn't telling anyone, something very wrong.

His thoughts were interrupted by the smack of a small notebook hitting the floor. It was plain and blue, and it had fallen with the pages open and facing the floor. Gray bent down to retrieve it, but when he flipped over the book, he was in for a surprise.

_I really can't believe it. His funeral is tomorrow… I can't believe Simon is gone. And right before my eyes…_

The page, written in rushed scrawls, was dated over two years ago.

"Did I just…" Gray mumbled, wondering if he had read something that no one was supposed to read. Just then, he heard the bathroom door open, so he bent back over and acted like he was picking up the notebook. "This is yours. It fell," he said when Erza walked back towards him.

"Oh." She snatched the book away and shoved it in her purse. "Thanks." Without another word, she hurried into the main part of the shop.

There was definitely something very wrong.

Gray was beginning to get more annoyed by Erza than ever before. She internalized everything and obviously had no idea how to deal with problems. Whatever had been written on the page was a secret, because he asked Lucy if she knew about it and she didn't. However, Lucy's mind seemed far off and in troubles of her own, so he hadn't pressed the matter any further.

Gray watched the two girls out of the corner of his eye as they sold coffee and smiled at the customers like nothing was wrong. But if a person looked in either of their eyes, one could easily see the problem. _"What are you two hiding?"_ Gray thought. _"And why has it come back to haunt you?" _He hadn't said anything to Erza about reading the book. If he had, she would have immediately gone on the defensive and refused to tell him. The best thing to do was act like he was stupid and didn't know what was going on — but Gray wasn't even sure how long he could do that.

That night, Gray, Natsu, Erza, and Lucy all left the shop together. Gray offered to drop them all off at their respective houses, and the three readily agreed. Natsu and Lucy went into the back seat, Natsu quickly telling Lucy of all his recent adventures with Happy before beginning to feel queasy due to his motion sickness. Erza sat up front with Gray.

"You alright?" Gray asked Erza as a light turned green. She nodded, not even bothering to verbally answer. Gray sighed and dropped it. She wasn't going to tell him anything right then.

Soon enough, they pulled up at the Richardson Plaza.

"Thanks, Gray!" Lucy called cheerfully, getting out of the car. "See you guys tomorrow!"

"Thanks," Erza said quickly before turning and walking away. Lucy raced to catch up to her, and the two disappeared behind their apartment building's doors.

Gray didn't turn the engine back on right away. Instead, he watched the door for a moment, deep in thought. "You know, I'm getting a bad feeling," he said to no one in particular.

"Really?" Natsu asked, giving his friend a smile. "'Cause I'm getting a good one."

Gray just shrugged before turning on the engine and driving away.

* * *

Anyone know how the whole image manager thing works? Can I, like make a story poster? I wanna do that :)

rkfollower - Ugh, so true. There needs to be SO much more GrayZa. Thus, I have this story xD  
HanaIchi Ikari - Haha, I know!  
Erza Fullbuster LOVE - Gracias! El espanol de mi no es bueno, pero estoy alegre que recibe su comentarios! (No peudo escribir los acentos, los sientos)  
Gerkyhen - Lol :)  
Yin005 - Haha, imagining them together makes me happy, too!  
xXnuhakuXx - more :)  
Temari Uchicha -Love Lemon - Muchos gracias! Sonrei cuando lei sus comentarios. :D (No peudo escribir los acentos, los sientos)  
RednBlack Fever - Haha! I'm glad :)  
xxRhinxx - Oh, don't worry. He'll be coming in soon enough. I've already planned for him to be in this story.  
Raikiri80 - does this answer your question? Haha, I tend to take a while between updates, so if I don't post for a couple months, don't think I've dropped this. It's still going.


	14. Here We Go

You're probably thinking "What the heck? She just had to edit it, right?" There was a mix up with me trying to send this to my beta, hehe. BUT! Chapter 15 is done and beta-read, so I'mma put it up tomorrow!

See you tomorrow! Enjoy!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Fourteen: Here We Go

.x.x.x.

Lucy stared up at the door, which had to be at least twice her height, with contempt. "Alright, Dad," she said before knocking. "You wanted me here, and now here I am."

After about thirty seconds, the giant doors opened. Lucy let out the breath she had been holding and took a step inside. "Here goes nothing."

Erza sighed as she stepped out of her apartment. She wouldn't be going far — just next door. On the last day of finals, Lucy had packed her bags and told Erza that she was going off somewhere. Erza couldn't help but worry. Lucy had mentioned that some men had grabbed her on the street and that the amount of money in her bank account had mysteriously gone down. But that aside, Lucy had asked Erza to watch over her apartment while she was gone.

"_Well," _Erza thought. _"It gives me something else to think about instead of just thinking about Jellal." _She sighed again. It was December, and she always thought of Jellal in December. Always. And now that school was out, Erza had little but work to keep her mind occupied. And in a few days, Fairy Tail would shorten the hours that the shop was open. "Great," she mumbled to herself as she reached into her pocket for Lucy's spare key. But then, Erza looked at the door. It was unlocked. And she hadn't been inside since the previous day. Had someone been inside? Had they robbed Lucy? Had they vandalized the place? She gulped loudly, imagining all the horrible things that could have happened to Lucy's apartment.

Turns out, the worst of those things was that there were probably cat hairs all over the furniture.

Erza opened the door only to see Natsu sitting in Lucy's large, plushy recliner stroking Happy.

"Natsu? What're you doing here?" she asked in both surprise and relief.

"Erza?" Natsu sat up in the chair. Something was odd about him. Instead of the usual carefree expression, there was a forlornness in his eyes. "I… Why are you here?"

"I was just checking on her apartment," she said as she closed the door. She had no idea how Natsu had gotten inside, but he had snuck inside so many times in the past that Erza was hardly worried. "You really miss her, don't you?" When the question was only met with a soft nod, she added, "Do you know where she is?" Erza walked over to Lucy's desk to see if Natsu had touched anything on it. There was a pile of assignments, grocery lists, and a number of other papers, but a paper on top caught Erza's attention.

"She said something about her father before she ran off…" Natsu said slowly. "Something about going home." As the redhead scanned the paper, a light bulb turned on in Erza's head and a look of horror took over her face.

"Natsu."

"What?"

"We need to find Lucy."

"Why?" he asked, leaning forward in the chair.

"I think she might be in trouble."

Erza drummed her fingers irritably. When she had wanted to draw up a plan of action, she hadn't imagined sitting on the floor in Gray's living as room part of the planning process.

The first thing Natsu had done was call Gray, who had come to Richardson to pick them up and take them to his house. Erza didn't want Gray and Natsu inside her apartment, and she didn't want them to break anything in Lucy's. Thus, the three had wound up at Gray's house.

"Gray, you have no food," Natsu complained, staring into the refrigerator.

"What are you talking about?" Gray asked as he walked into the kitchen. "It's full of food. I just went shopping the other day." Gray's refrigerator was indeed full, but Natsu turned to face Gray with a serious look on his face.

"It's not enough."

Gray face-palmed.

"Are we ever going to _do_ anything?" asked Erza impatiently. "Lucy's who knows where, and you guys are fighting about food." The boys murmured a quick "sorry" before sitting down in the living room with her.

"So, where _is_ Lucy anyway?" Gray asked.

"Not sure," replied Erza. "All we know is that she's gone to see her dad."

"And that's bad?"

Erza took out the paper she had found on Lucy's desk, which was neatly folded in her jacket pocket. She quickly unfolded it and began to read:

"'Miss Lucy Heartfilia,

"'Your presence has been requested by your father, Jude Heartfilia. He demands that you see him at once. Until you arrive, all your assets will be frozen, including your bank account, and your tuition payments to Magnolia University will be put on hold.'" Erza passed the paper to Gray and Natsu. "There's more, but I read all the important parts. Lucy's in danger, guys." Gray read the paper, a look of disgust coming to his face. How could someone's own father write a letter like that to his daughter? Natsu, however, was becoming angrier with every single word he read. He snatched the paper from Gray's hands and threw it onto the floor.

"Well, come on, guys! Let's go save her!" he yelled.

"We don't know where she is," Erza said with a frown. "And she won't pick up her phone."

"What's her last name?" Gray asked. "Maybe I can find her dad's phone number online. It's Heartfilia, right?" Natsu nodded. "Then they shouldn't be too hard to find. Who else has a last name like that?"

"Says Mr. Fullbuster," Erza said dryly. Natsu broke out into a fit of snickers, whereas Gray just glared at the redhead and took out his laptop.

After a few minutes of surfing the internet, Gray's eyes widened. "Hey, guys? You might wanna look at this."

"What?" Natsu asked as he and Erza got on either side of Gray and peered at his computer. Their faces showed their shock as they glanced at the web page.

"_Heartfilia Enterprises,"_ it read.

"What. The. Heck," was all that Natsu could say.

Apparently, Lucy was the daughter of the CEO of the largest train and transit company in the southeastern United States. Her father was ridiculously wealthy. As the trio continued to search, they read an article about the disappearance of the only Heartfilia daughter. She had gone away without a trace, without any clue as to her whereabouts.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Gray asked.

"You're thinking about Lucy, right?" Natsu asked. "And chicken?" Gray gave him a blank stare.

"I think I know what you're thinking, Gray," Erza said slowly. "Lucy… ran away. And now her dad's found her and wants her back home."

"Lucy has sense," Gray said. "She wouldn't leave her house in the first place if there weren't a problem there."

"So now she's in trouble," Erza said, growing more and more upset by the moment.

"Well," Natsu began, leaning back on the couch. "If she went back home, I guess it's our job to go save her." The other two cracked smiles, and they all knew they were thinking the same thing:

Here we go.

* * *

LA~!

Raikiri80 - Haha! Please stay tuned! I have more of the plot worked out, so it'll be easier to update (I hope).  
GoldenRoseLuceTanya - Well, as you can see, it's kind of like the end of the Phantom Lord arc, when Lucy went home to her dad, you know?  
Erza Fullbuster LOVE - Haha, Gray no le gusta ver a Erza triste tambien!  
Temari Uchiha -Love Lemon - Yo volvere manana! (Argh, no tilde/acentos :( )  
Gray80 - I totally agree!  
HanaIchi Ikari - I watched a little, but I shoud watch it if it's filler! The main story has gotten too weird for me. I now reside in my head-canon (lol)  
Grayesfrio - Bahaha!  
Avatarfan444 - Thanks for reviewing twice, haha! :D

Please read and review, guys! See you later~


	15. Fifteen Minutes

Hi, guys! I'm back~ I'm excited about this chapter! I've had it in mind for a long time, and I wrote one of the scenes AGES ago! But this chapter might be a little weird, because I wrote it while listening to Andrew Belle (LOVE. HIM. He's not very popular, but if you don't know him, go search him in Youtube NOW! You'll fall in love, I promise) and K-Pop bands SHINee and f(x) (LOVE. THEM. When you're done listening to Andrew Belle, listen to these two groups, too!). That makes for a very interesting combination, let me tell you. Well, now that I'm done shamelessly advertising some of my fave artists, on to the story!

ENJOY! (There's GrayZa in this one!)  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Fifteen: Fifteen Minutes

.x.x.x.

"_So much for my trip,"_ Erza thought as she loaded her luggage in Gray's car. The three had taken off the next few days and were going to find Lucy. That totally ruined Erza's previous plans, but she wasn't even sure she minded.

Lately, Erza had been thinking so much about Jellal that she had thought about defying him for the first time in years by going to Washington and looking for him. But she didn't have the money to go, and her plan was not thought out well, so she actually figured that she'd give it up.

"I have a new life now," she said aloud to no one in particular as she slammed the trunk shut.

"Erza!" Gray yelled. "Don't break my car!"

"Whatever," she said, getting into the passenger's seat. Natsu was in the back seat, preparing to suffer terribly from motion sickness as Happy pawed at his stomach. "We need to get food and stuff, so let's stop by a grocery store before we go," said Erza as she buckled her seatbelt. When she was done, she noticed Gray looking at her strangely. "What?"

"You are still as bossy as ever," he mumbled as they took off towards the nearest supermarket.

"Alright, Natsu, I'm putting you on drinks," Erza ordered once they got inside the store. "Make sure you get some water and—" The boy tore off and — after grabbing a store worker by the shirt and asking for directions — raced down an aisle. "Hey! Get back here!" Erza yelled after him. But it was too late: Natsu was long gone.

"Don't worry about him," Gray said, shoving his hands into his jacket pockets. "What about me?"

"Food," she replied. "I don't trust Natsu with that." He cracked a smirk as she continued. "I'm going to get other things. Paper towels, bandages, stuff like that."

"Hey," Gray began, digging something from one of his pockets. He handed Erza a crisp twenty dollar bill. She stared at the piece of paper in his hand with contempt.

"I don't need your money. I can pay for this myself."

"I know," he replied. "But I _want_ to pay for it." He pressed the bill into her hand and began to walk away.

"Gray!" He turned around slowly to face her. "Make sure you buy some healthy stuff too! Not all junk food!"

"'Kay."

"And get something with vegetables, too!"

"Yeah, right!" he called sarcastically over his shoulder. Erza shook her head, the smallest of smiles on her face. She'd been expecting a response like that.

"This is really ironic," Gray said. The trio had left the supermarket debating about how to get to Lucy's house in South Carolina from their home in Pennsylvania. A plane was too expensive and too hectic. Driving would take forever, and Gray was afraid that Erza and Natsu might totally destroy his car if he even thought about letting them drive it. The only other reasonable option was to go by train, which was ironic because Lucy's father would own the tracks the train went along.

The three dragged their luggage through the station, tickets — which Gray had paid for despite Erza's many protests — in hand. They quickly boarded the train, finding two pairs of seats facing each other. The train wasn't crowded, and it was rather quiet.

Erza leaned against the train window and tried to ignore the fact that Gray was sitting next to her and Natsu was snoring loudly on the seats across from them. Due to his motion sickness, he was allowed two of their four seats to himself. Neither Erza nor Gray really wanted to sit next to him when he was in such a state. Natsu had quickly gone to sleep, which was a relief because he wouldn't be sitting there feeling miserable. As the train raced out of the station into the open, Erza felt herself yawn, too.

Erza reached into a bag and took out a cat treat. She leaned over towards Natsu's carry-on bag and slipped it inside. Even though the train had a no-pets rule, Natsu had simply refused to leave Happy behind on their journey. The cat had been remarkably quiet, as if he knew they'd get kicked off the train if he made any noise. Erza let out another yawn and slouched down in her seat. The long ride had only just begun, and she already felt sleep tugging at her eyelids.

Gray looked from Erza to Natsu. It was amazing how much they cared for Lucy; they were willing to make this journey even though it was a great inconvenience to them both. Gray didn't mind the trip. He hadn't had any plans anyway, and the money was no problem. Between his job and his full scholarship to Magnolia University, he had more than enough cash to spare, and paying for the train was the least he could do. Natsu had so many problems with transportation, Erza surely had plans — even though she hadn't voiced them, Gray could tell she did — and both Natsu and Erza were rather strapped for cash.

"You two must really care about Lucy," he whispered into Erza's ear. She shot up and turned to answer him.

"We all do. That's why we're going after her."

"I know, but…" Gray sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "This trip is getting in the way of whatever you guys had planned and you don't seem to mind."

"I didn't have any plans," Erza lied. Gray scoffed.

"Like I'm going to believe that. What were they?"

Erza sighed. "Alright. I was planning to go to Washington D.C. in search of someone."

Gray's eyebrows furrowed. "Who?"

For a second, she thought of telling him, but he really didn't need to know about Jellal. "…An old friend. But it's okay. I don't even know if he's there anymore. It was a stupid idea."

"Oh." They sat in silence and Erza could feel sleep tugging at her eyelids again. "Hey, Erza?" She lazily turned her head once more to Gray, who looked much more serious than he had a moment ago.

"What?"

"…I'm sorry."

"Why?" she mumbled, trying to hide her curiosity.

"You're not nearly as heartless as I thought."

Well, that ruined the moment.

"_Thanks_, Gray," the redhead replied sarcastically as she propped her chin up on her hand and turned back to the window. "Means a lot." Why did she think he was going to say something more meaningful? This was Gray; all he did was mess with her and cause her trouble. It was the same person who had challenged her authority at Fairy Tail, fought with her constantly, seen her cry, dragged her out to the park, and somehow managed to befriend her through all of it. No person had ever bugged Erza like Gray. No one had ever gotten under her skin like Gray. And now they were caught up in some game with no rules, and Erza was almost positive she was losing.

Gray was now mumbling some things, but Erza had tuned him out until she heard, "…Your hair's pretty, too." It took a second for it to register in her head that he was playing with her long red locks, twirling a strand between his fingers.

"Stop that!" she exclaimed, slapping his hand. "Leave my hair alone."

"Whatever…" He let out a loud yawn. "I think I'm going to sleep now."

"Go ahead."

Erza regretted saying that in fifteen minutes when his head was slumped against her shoulder. She only sighed heavily and yawned.

"_Great_."

But in another fifteen minutes, one would find her asleep and leaning against him as well.

* * *

It's funny that I posted Chapter Fifteen today, because it's actually my last day of being fifteen! I'm about to have my sweet sixteen~ and reviews make great presents ;) *smacked*

D. GrayManGRL- (Sorry, wouldn't let me type your name w/o the space) ROFL! But it what her dad owns in the show, and I was too lazy to change it xD  
Erza Fullbuster LOVE - Gracias! Estoy alegre cuando veo sus comentarios~  
Temari Uchiha -Love Lemon - Hehe, continuare!  
HanaIchi Ikari - I KNOW! ISN'T IT BEAUTIFUL? *shot* But seriously, I love that episode to death. It's so cute and I just love how Gray is mentally dying the whole time!  
GoldenRoseLuceTanya - lol xD  
Raikiri80 - Haha, the main change, as you can see, is that I'm showing what happened to the gang when they go after Lucy. The canon never tells us, so I thought it would be interesting to write :)


	16. In My Mind

Hi, guys! How are you? I just got back from church. :D This chapter is a bit late because I had some things to change that my beta pointed out. Otherwise, I would have had it up last week. ^^"  
So, school started Friday. . Junior year is supposed to be the hardest year of high school, so wish me luck! Please. I'm kind of scared.

THERE IS GRAYZA IN THIS CHAPTER. AND NALU. YAY!

Enjoy!  
-RD :D

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Sixteen: In My Mind

.x.x.x.

On a map, South Carolina looked tiny. However, when three people were stuck in a car, winding hopelessly through the Appalachian mountains with the hope of finding a large estate, South Carolina seemed much, much bigger.

Just as before, Natsu had taken the back seat of the group's rental car, Happy being his only comfort as he suffered. Gray was driving, and Erza was in the passenger seat with the job of navigator, holding a map in one hand and directions in the other.

"Turn left here," she ordered. Gray made a sharp turn, heading down yet another road.

Erza was exhausted. It was getting late; the train ride had been long, but the car trip to Lucy's house felt even longer. Music would have helped, but the only thing that was on the radio in this rural part of South Carolina was country music, and no one in the car was fond of that. The silence made for a lot of thinking time, and Erza was fighting a battle inside her mind to keep herself from thinking of Jellal, but she was not doing a very good job of keeping him out of her thoughts.

"_I'm not going to see him… It's only going to hurt me,"_ she thought sadly. On the train, Erza had talked herself out of traveling to Washington altogether. It would be counterproductive — getting away from everything was the only reason she had come to Magnolia in the first place. Why plunge herself into her past if she had just escaped it?

Those were the thoughts that raged in Erza's head as they drove down the long, winding paths. Apparently, the conflict showed in her face, because it wasn't long before Gray said, "You're upset." Erza blushed and looked up in shock. He was getting dangerously good at figuring out what she was feeling. "Have you told Lucy about it?"

"I'm not upset."

"You know I hate it when you lie."

Erza sighed. There was no point in pretending. He read her like an open book.

"No, I haven't told Lucy. Obviously, since she's gone." She gave him the "why, aren't you stupid?" look. "I haven't told anyone."

"Come on," Gray said, a teasing smirk on his face. "You know you wanna tell your best friend, Gray."

She snorted. "You're sick in the head if you think you're my best friend. Focus on the road."

Gray turned back to the almost-vacant mountain road. Lucy's family's place was way off the beaten path.

"Who _is _your best friend?" he asked, not taking his eyes from the street ahead of him.

She shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "Actually… it's the person I'm so worked up about."

He frowned. "Look, if you're worried about Lucy, we're gonna find her. I mean—"

"I wasn't talking about Lucy."

Gray looked at her, confused. "…Then, who…?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she huffed, turning away. It really wasn't fair. Gray could figure Erza's emotions out in half a second, yet she never knew what he was thinking. She couldn't predict what he'd do next, and there was nothing she could expect from him. Sometimes he'd be silly and playful, yet at other times he would be extremely serious. Erza was beginning to wonder if he had a more complex personality than she did — and it was tough to have a more complex personality than Erza. It wasn't fair that he had challenged her at all. Because if this was a game, Gray had only challenged her to something he knew he couldn't lose.

That's what she thought. However, Gray seemed to be just as angry and frustrated as she was. He pulled the car over to the side of the road, stopping before they hit any trees.

"What the heck, Gray!" Erza yelled. "Why did we stop?"

"Because I can't drive and yell at you at the same time!" he shouted. Erza thought that his answer was rather dumb, but she couldn't think on that for long. "Erza, I'm sorry. Wait! I'm not going to be sorry for this because you need to hear it!"

"Get back on the road. I don't have time for this."

"_Make_ time!" Gray thundered. Erza looked at him in shock. During all the fights they had ever had, he had never raised his voice to such an extent. "Erza, you're really stupid sometimes. I've tried to be nice to you, but you're so annoying! You bottle all your problems inside of you and you don't tell anyone about it! Then you just suffer quietly and make everyone worry! What's going on with you?" By that time, Natsu had snapped out of his sick state and watched with rapt interest as the two fought.

"I'm putting money on Erza," he whispered to Happy.

"Meow!"

"What are you talking about? Gray's wimpy. No way he can—" Natsu stopped as soon as he heard Erza begin to yell again.

"It's not your problem! I don't have to tell you if I don't want to!"

"Then why don't you want to?" Gray asked, becoming quieter bit by bit.

"I don't trust other people," she said firmly.

"Then why do you cry about it alone?"

That obviously struck a chord with Erza, because she opened the door and got out of the car. Gray snorted, still angry. Happy had what almost looked like a smug smile on his face.

"Fine," Natsu said. "You win." But after a minute, Gray got out of the car, too. "Told you!" said Natsu. Happy pawed him on the arm in response.

Erza stood staring out at the road, tears rolling down her cheeks. She frowned when she heard footsteps behind her.

"Go away."

"Nope," was Gray's response as he took her into his arms from behind.

"What do you think you're doing?" she yelled, stomping on his foot in an effort to get him to stop hugging her.

"Ouch… you're so violent," Gray muttered, but he didn't let go. "Just let me stay like this for a little." Erza sighed and found herself consenting. She stopped struggling, and Gray immediately felt relieved. "You know what I meant back there, right?"

"That I need to tell you all my innermost secrets," she said as she wiped her eyes, having stopped crying by then.

"No. I don't wanna know those." She scoffed, and he smiled. "I just meant that if you have a problem, let it out. If you deal with it alone, you're only hurting yourself."

"What if I like things this way?"

"Then you're crazy and we need to get you to a psychiatrist right away." Erza laughed slightly, amazed that she was able to find humor in her situation. "Erza, we've already got Lucy to worry about. Seeing you like this makes it harder to focus on her. She needs our help right now." Erza nodded. "And you don't have to tell me _anything_. But at least tell Lucy, or someone that you trust. Don't tell Natsu, though, because he can't keep a secret." She laughed again, and Gray felt great satisfaction in that. "But," he began, turning her around in his arms to face him. "If you ever want to tell me anything, I'll be here."

The two looked at each other in silence, and the smallest of smiles came to Erza's face.

"Alright."

"GUYS!" Natsu yelled.

"What now?" Gray asked himself, taking his arms from around Erza.

"BIG SCARY THING!" he screamed, flailing his arms around. Gray and Erza whipped around to see what looked almost like a leopard coming toward them — and growling.

"AHHHH!" the two screamed as they raced back to the car.

"Turn it on, turn it on, turn it on!" Natsu screamed as the animal got closer. It looked rather hungry and vicious.

"What the heck is that thing?" Gray asked as he put the key in the ignition. "Some kind of leopard?"

"There a-are no leopards in South Carolina," Erza said shakily.

"Obviously, there's one right there!" The car roared to life, and Gray slammed on the gas pedal, throwing the group back onto the road.

But the animal was chasing their car.

"Go faster!" Natsu yelled.

"Meow!" added Happy.

"Wait! We don't even know where we're going!" Erza yelled as they continued to speed down the road.

"Oh, no."

Once the animal was far behind them, Gray parked the car in front of some small houses behind a gate. He got out of the car, looking at the houses with relief. "Finally! Signs of life!" He scanned the rest of the area, only seeing trees. "Now, where are we…"

"You might have wanted to think about that before," Erza said with a glare as she and Natsu followed Gray out of the car. She took a look at the address at the front of the neighborhood. It looked oddly familiar…

She ran back to the car to read the driving instructions to Lucy's house. Her mouth made an _o_ shape as she read the paper.

"Well, guys," she said, walking up to the gate. "We're here."

"What?" Gray and Natsu asked at the same time.

"You heard me. That's Lucy's house." She pointed at a giant mansion behind the gate, and Natsu and Gray's mouths dropped open.

"Oh," Natsu said quietly. "We're here." The other two stared at him, surprised with his calm reaction. "Now, let's GO!" he yelled, ramming into the gate with full force.

Gray and Erza nodded. That was more like it.

Lucy closed the door behind her slowly, still not entirely happy with the way things had ended with her father. She would be willing to help him in certain ways — he was her dad, after all. But giving her hand in marriage to someone she had never met when she was as young as eighteen? Out of the question.

She kicked a stone on the path as she continued to the most meaningful place on the ground of the mansion: her mother's grave. She stopped in front of it and let out a long sigh.

"Mama, it's much better to talk to you, isn't it? Rather than my letters, even though I know you see them." Lucy held her head down and decided she wasn't going to cry. "You want to see me happy, right, Mama? I am happy. Happier than I've ever been. I've made so many new friends. Remember Gray and Erza? They're friends now. Sort of. Erza's still very closed off, but I think Gray will be the first to get through to her. He kind of wedged his way into our lives!" She laughed, remembering that one time she had talked to Gray on the phone about Erza. He said she was not going to get him out of her life so easily. That had proved to be so true. It made Lucy very happy to see Gray and Erza together. Even though Gray could be frustrating, Lucy knew he was the best at convincing Erza of anything. With Gray, Lucy figured she could finally bring much more frequent smiles to Erza's face.

"He makes her happy, Mama. And as for me? My best friend is in love with me. I overheard him talking to Gray about it. I don't want to lose Natsu, though, because I can't say that I feel the same. I keep trying to set him up with another girl. Lisanna. She's nice, pretty, and has known Natsu since she was about five. But talking to Natsu can be like talking to a brick," she paused to laugh, "and I'm not sure he'll get the message anytime soon. I'll keep trying, though, because Natsu has been the most loyal friend I've met since coming to Magnolia. Maybe someday—"

"LUCY!" Lucy turned around quickly only to see a bluish blur jump up into her arms.

"Happy!" she exclaimed as the cat began to snuggle in her embrace. Lucy, still rather baffled, looked up and saw the three crazily running people racing towards her.

"Lucy!" Natsu yelled, being the first to reach her. "You're not dead!" He threw his arms around her and Happy, squeezing them a bit. "I was scared," Natsu whispered, and for some reason, Lucy felt her cheeks go red.

Erza was the next person to reach Lucy. The blonde put Happy down and ran to her friend. "Do I need to hurt anyone?" Erza asked, looking around to see if there was anyone she could beat up.

Lucy laughed. "No, no, don't hurt anyone. I'm fine."

"You sure?" Erza looked Lucy over, searching for any cuts, bruises, or any other excuse she could use to hurt someone.

"I told you!" Lucy insisted. "I'm fine."

Gray was the last to come. He had a tired smile on his face and looked absolutely relieved to see Lucy in one piece. She walked up to him.

"Thanks for coming after me."

"It was their idea," said Gray, pointing at Natsu and Erza. "I just came along because someone had to drive them." Lucy let out a small chuckle, and the smile on Gray's face became wider.

The four slowly began the trek back to the gate, Gray and Erza walking in front, with Natsu, Lucy, and Happy following behind.

"This town sure is nice," Gray commented. Erza agreed with a nod, but they heard a laugh from Lucy.

"Oh, this isn't a town! It's our property. It goes all the way over to that mountain," she said, pointing off into the distance. Natsu and Gray's jaws dropped.

"ALL HAIL PRINCESS LUCY!" they yelled, saluting. Happy, noticing that they were acting strangely, went to go get Erza. He pawed her leg, but she only stared off into the sky, saying, "The sky is so blue here." Happy panicked and began to run around in a circle.

Lucy stared blankly at her friends before bursting into laughter. That was the way things were supposed to be.

Lucy was glad to be home.

* * *

Haha, I stole the end from FT. It's one of my favorite scenes ever, so I had to use it. :D

- He did! When Lucy came home, he told her that the marriage was so they could extend their railways to the south. And I'm totally doing GRAYZA! :D They're my fave Fairy Tail couple. But when you write them together, you have to recognize characters like Jellal and Juvia. I haven't been reading the manga a lot lately, but I might put some new characters in. Sting will most likely find his way into this.  
Erza Fullbuster LOVE - It's not work to translate! I took Spanish in school, haha! If you want help with English, I don't mind helping you at all. Thanks a lot though! I'm glad you like it!  
Temari Uchicha-Love Lemon -Gracias! Tus comentarios me hace feliz!  
Raikiri80 - I am LOVING Gray in this story. And it's my story lol xD I love writing his lines!  
HappyFace - Thank you! :)  
HanaIchi Ikari - Bwahaha xD Thanks!  
Guest -  Thank you for reviewing so much! NaLu will get more screen time soon, so don't worry! They're in the next chapter. :D  
DiamondRainbows - Thanks for reviewing multiple times! I'm glad you like it! :D

GUYS. GUESS WHAT!

13th Street is now the most reviewed GrayZa story on Fanfiction! Thank you guys SO MUCH! I can't explain how happy that makes me! LOVE YOU!


	17. The Perfect Gift

I'M BACK~! And 13th Street is back! Yay! Happy New Year, guys! How are you doing? I'm alright. I have to go back to school tomorrow, which stinks. But, lucky for me, I have a clear idea of what I want for the next 2 chapters, so I'll do my best to get working on them soon.

I really like this chapter! It's Christmassy. I miss Christmas. I wish it were back. Anyway, the next chapter will also be Christmassy.

I hope you guys like this as much as I do!  
- RD :)

* * *

"Gray!"

Silence.

"Gray!"

…

"GRAY!"

Gray Fullbuster sat up in bed, feeling rather shocked and confused. There was a voice coming from somewhere, but he wasn't quite sure where.

All of a sudden, he heard a tap against his window. He glanced over just in time to see a small pebble being thrown at the window, making another tap. Gray threw his legs over the side of his bed and walked over to the window. When he looked outside, he was a bit surprised to see Lucy standing in his front yard.

Gray opened the window, narrowly avoiding yet another flying pebble, and called out to Lucy. "What the heck are you doing here, Lucy?" he asked, leaning out the window.

He saw her eyebrows furrow and began to wonder why she was giving him such a strange look. Then Gray realized what was happening: he had only slept in a pair of shorts.

"Aren't you cold?" Lucy yelled. She herself was wrapped up in a sweater, a jacket, a scarf, and boots. On top of that, there was fresh snow from the previous night all on Gray's lawn and the street. However, Gray hardly felt a thing.

"Not really," he replied with a shrug. "This is my kind of weather."

She rolled her eyes. "Well, get dressed and get down here. We have somewhere to go!" Now it was his turn to be confused. Where in the world would Lucy possibly want to go? They were finally getting time off from school and work. They didn't have to go anywhere.

"What kind of somewhere?" asked Gray.

A mega-watt smile found its way to Lucy's face. "You and I are going Christmas shopping!"

"You just need someone to drive you, don't you?"

"Ah... Yes?"

"Be right down."

Lucy smiled to herself and bent down towards the snow. Snow was certainly a new experience for her. They didn't get very much snow in Southern Carolina, even in the mountains. The idea of there being white as far as the eye could see was absolutely beautiful to Lucy, even if she didn't like being cold.

When Gray came out, a snowball smacked him right in the chest. Lucy had a mischievous grin on her face, and a tiny snowball fight in Gray's yard ensued.

However, Lucy reminded Gray why she wanted to take him with her in the first place, and soon they were in his car on their way to the mall.

On the way there, Lucy hummed Christmas tunes and seemed completely immersed in Christmas spirit. This was so different, Gray thought, from the sad and lonely girl they had brought back from South Carolina only a few days before. She had settled back into her life fairly quickly. However, she seemed slightly more grown up – despite the snowball fight she had just engaged in. There was something more subdued in her, as if everything that had happened to her had woken her up.

Lucy noticed Gray staring at her while they waited at a stoplight. "Ah, Gray?" she asked, feeling odd due to his staring. "What's up?"

He shook his head, snapping himself out of it. "Nothing. I'm just proud of you."

She blushed slightly, knowing immediately what he was talking about. "Sorry about that. I hope I didn't cause you guys too much trouble."

"Nah," Gray replied. And he meant it. Even though the expedition to rescue Lucy had been positively insane and ultimately unneeded, there was a lot of good that came out of it. It had united Gray, Erza, and Natsu in a common cause. Gray felt that their friendship had improved greatly since the trip. And even though he had no idea what had been wrong with Erza, he felt much closer to her as well.

The light turned green, and they kept going.

"So, what are you planning to buy?"

"Not sure yet," Lucy replied honestly. "I was thinking about getting some clothes for Erza. I found out what size she wears, but I'm not too sure what she would like."

"What about Natsu?"

"Um, food maybe? I'm not sure."

"And what about me?" Lucy looked over to see that Gray was giving her a big, mischievous smile. She burst out laughing.

"We'll see about that."

Magnolia, being a fair-sized city, had a large mall. The entire building was decked out in Christmas decorations, and everywhere you looked, there were posters and advertisements telling you to buy. At Christmastime, malls tended to be overwhelming and confusing. However, Lucy thrived in the crowded setting.

Gray? Not so much.

As people swarmed around him, Gray fought to catch up with Lucy, who was moving through the mall with ease. It was one of the few times in his life that Gray envied the female population of the world, because somehow, they _liked_all this madness.

After lots of crowd fighting and a few occasions of Gray losing track of Lucy, the duo arrived at a girly-looking clothing store.

"Here we are!"Lucy happily announced.

"You're kidding me." Gray was still panting from his mall adventure. He could see that in the store, there were tons of girls rushing to get the best price on sale items. It was pure chaos, and Lucy seemed to be excited about it. "Uh-uh," he said, shaking his head. "You are _not_ dragging me in there!"

"Too bad!"Lucy grabbed her poor friend by the jacket and pulled him into the store.

"How do you think she'd like this?" Lucy asked as she picked up the umpteenth item from the rack and showed it to Gray. He felt like they had been in the store for ages, but Lucy insisted that it had only been fifteen minutes.

"I dunno," Gray said with a shrug. "You pick."

Lucy let out a loud groan and went back to flipping through the racks of shirts. Gray, tired of having seen her do the same old thing for the last fifteen minutes, began to walk around the store. Despite his first impression of the place, he saw why girls would like it. It had clothes, shoes, accessories, and even jewelry. During his stroll around the crazy fighting ladies in the store, a certain something caught Gray's eye.

"Hey, Lucy!" he yelled, trying to get his voice heard above the noise of the shop. Lucy peeked her head up over a clothing rack and met Gray's eyes. She ran over toward him, her arms full with a pile of clothes, and Gray couldn't help but wonder of Lucy had been shopping for Erza or herself.

"Did you find something for her?" asked Lucy as she shifted the mass of clothing in her hands around.

"Yeah." Gray pointed to a glass jewelry case. Rather than gesturing to the expensive necklaces, bracelets, and other elaborate accessories, he motioned toward a small pair of earrings. They were silver in color and were in the shape of a diamond. They were the simplest things in the jewelry case. Lucy realized that if Gray hadn't pointed them out, she wouldn't have even noticed them.

But even though they were so simple, somehow, they matched Erza perfectly. Erza wouldn't have wanted all the fancy jewelry, anyway. Lucy was surprised to think that Gray must have known that already. He seemed to know Erza better than even Lucy did, and the blonde had no idea how that could even be possible, since Lucy was Erza's closest friend.

"I think it's perfect," Lucy said with a smile.

"Me, too."

The two friends left the shop feeling rather satisfied with their purchases. Lucy had enough clothes for the next year – for a normal person, anyway –and Gray had found something for Erza. Now, shopping for Natsu? That wasn't too hard. All one needed to do was get him some spicy food. He'd eat it, say he was "all fired up," run around a bit, and go back to normal, or as close to normal as Natsu could be. Natsu would be content, because there was nothing he loved more than food and his friends.

"What are you going to get Natsu?" Gray asked Lucy.

"I have no idea."

After this, Lucy looked deep in thought, as if she were _actually _considering what to get the easiest person for whom to shop! Natsu just wanted food, but Lucy seemed to be putting a lot of thought into what she wanted to buy him.

"Luce."

"Yeah?"

"Do you like Natsu? Ow!" Gray yelled as he was slapped on the arm. How Lucy was able to hit him with all the shopping bags in her hands was beyond him. But she had managed to do it nonetheless, and it hurt, too!

"What made you think that?"

"You're thinking about what to get him! Just go buy some kind of food!"

"Well, I thought about that," said Lucy. "But I wasn't sure if I should get him something more special. And _not_ because I like him. He was the first person I met when I came to Magnolia, so he's kind of special to me."

Gray wasn't completely buying it, but it was a passable answer.

"What about you?" Lucy demanded. "You obviously like Erza!" She thought he would get annoyed and deny it, but to her surprise, Gray stopped in his tracks.

Honestly, he had never even thought about it before. He had never considered liking the girl who used to be the bane of his existence as possible. But the more he thought about it, the more it made sense. He shrugged and began to walk again.

"Yeah, a little."

Lucy was shocked, to say the least.

* * *

Hehe, Gray likes Erza. x3

DiamondRainbows - It gets no love! I must spread the GrayZa love. It's like, my job. xD  
ErzaFullbusterLOVE - Haha, yeah! Yes, now we have to get Erza to open up to Gray.  
IamapegasusDEALWITIT - There will be a lot o NaLu in some of the chapters coming up, including the next one!  
D. GrayManGRL- Episodes 29 and 30 are my favorites of all time. :) Gray's going to do a lot more confronting, because Erza's obviously got a lot of junk she's carrying.  
GoldenRoseTanya - :)  
musings of a lifetime - I'm glad you do :)  
HanaIchi Ikari - I'm so proud of myself! *smacked* xD Hooray for fluffy feels!  
Yin005 - I ship these two way too hard. xD And thank you! School is kind of murdering me, but that's okay.  
Music. Is. My. Life.06 - Haha, yay! I'm glad!  
natsuxlucyONLY - Yeah, Lucy's in denial. Poor girl. lol xD  
ximenasr9 - Gracias! :D  
AngelsFairyTail - Thanks :)  
Gray80 - Oh yeah!  
IcedSoulFairy - HAHA! Thanks so much! I hope that your GrayZa stories will be awesome! These two always need more love. And I know how you feel. A lot of times, I can see the story in my head but I can't write it. But I really want to finish this story, because I can't give up. Thanks for reading!  
LinkLover13 - Yeah, I shipped GrayZa before Jellal even came in the picture. xD They're not as popular as Jerza, so I like to write for them a lot. But NaLu is always fun. :)  
13 - I will :)

Okay, reader question: What's your favoite FT crack couple? I'm looking forward to seeing what you guys say. xD


	18. Ba-Bump

A new one! Yay~ There's lots of GrayZa in this, and a little NaLu, too!

Well, I hope you like it, readers.

Enjoy!  
- RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Eighteen: Ba-Bump

.x.x.x.

It was after her little shopping excursion with Gray that Lucy decided she could play matchmaker for more than one couple. She knew that Gray was most likely the only person who would ever be able to understand Erza. No one else did, but on multiple occasions, Gray had been able to crack her open just right so that he could read her like a book.

Lucy really wasn't sure how he did it. He often acted like he had no idea what was going on, but when he opened his mouth and spoke, it was easy to tell that Gray was no idiot. He was perceptive beyond compare, and that was enough to convince Lucy that he and Erza would be great together.

Well, that and the fact that he liked her.

Lucy had seen how, over time, Gray and Erza's relationship had changed from one of great conflict to one that was almost protective in nature. Various incidents, like when Gray stood up for Erza in the school cafeteria and when he was determined to teach her how to have fun, proved this, and there was the new knowledge she learned from Natsu of how Gray had been trying to get Erza to open up about her problems to someone, even if it wasn't Gray himself.

Lucy could see her two friends getting together. She even imagined what their kids would look like. In this respect, Lucy knew she was getting ahead of herself. But she could dream. With those two, anything seemed possible.

Her own love life, however, was a different story. The more she thought about Natsu, the more confused she was by him. Her best friend was supposedly in love with her. It made no sense! How in the world would they be able to keep up their close friendship if she couldn't return the same feelings? She had some feeling, for sure. She just wasn't sure what kind it was.

Lucy's solution was simple: don't think about it. Soon, she hoped, he'd be with Lisanna, Lucy and Natsu's friendship would be preserved, and everything would be great.

The beginning of Lucy's plan was to invite Lisanna, whom she had befriended over the past few weeks, to come to a Christmas party at her house on Christmas Eve. Now, all she had to do was convince all her other friends to come.

Oddly, that was the hard part.

"No."

"Why?" Lucy whined, shaking Gray's arm.

"Because we always celebrate holidays at your house. Can we go out or something? Just to mix it up?"

"No!"

"Why not?"

"Because!" Lucy said, not giving Gray any explanation.

"What's going on?" The duo looked up to see Juvia approaching their table at the local restaurant they were in. As she sat down across from them, Lucy could've sworn that Juvia was giving her the evil eye, but she wasn't quite sure why.

"Uh, hey, Juvia! I haven't seen you in a while!" Lucy said, trying not to feel so awkward. "What's up?"

"Oh, not much. I can see _you_ guys are close, though." The murderous glare returned, but Gray seemed oblivious to it. He just slung an arm around Lucy's shoulders and used his other hand to ruffle her hair. This only made Lucy feel more awkward, and she couldn't have been happier when Gray got up to go talk to Natsu, who was to join them for lunch.

However, her happiness was short-lived. Juvia slammed her hands on the table as soon as Gray was out of earshot, and her glare got even more menacing, if that were possible.

"Look, Heartphilia. I've liked Gray for as long as I can remember. Stay away from him."

Lucy's first thought was to be offended. But her second was a sympathetic one. Juvia liked Gray, but Gray liked someone else. And with the way things had been between Gray and Erza, Lucy doubted that Gray would be able to get the redhead out of his heart anytime in the near future.

"Juvia," Lucy began slowly. "I think you should give up on Gray."

"Why should I?" Juvia demanded.

"I guess you could say that his heart beats for another. And, no, it's not me." Lucy sighed. "I'm really sorry."

Instead of reacting like she thought Juvia would, the girl stood up in a huff. "I bet you're wrong," she said coldly before leaving the table.

It wasn't long before Gray and Natsu came and sat down with Lucy. "Sorry," Gray said. "We're back. What happened to Juvia?"

"She was busy and had to go," Lucy lied. "Is Erza coming? She just told me 'Maybe' when I called her this morning."

Both the boys shrugged, but it was obvious that Natsu was way more eager to go up to the counter and order than he was to think about the whereabouts of the elusive Erza. He ran up to the counter and began to loudly order his food. Gray and Lucy hung their heads, pretending not to know him.

His yelling at the cashier came to an abrupt stop when a purse flew out of nowhere and knocked him on the back of the head. The impact was so forceful that he fell forward and hit the counter, scaring the poor cashier even more.

"Hey!" Natsu screamed, looking so angry that it was like fire was coming out of his mouth. "Who did that?"

There were a few quiet footsteps, and Natsu looked up to see none other than Erza with Lisanna in tow. The latter was giggling and the former stood looking as menacing as ever.

"Oh, hey, Erza,"Natsu said nervously, instantly breaking out in a sweat. "W-what's up?"

"Nothing," She said as she snatched her purse from the counter and went to go sit down with Lucy and Gray.

Natsu sighed as Lisanna walked up to him. "Don't worry. At least it was fun to watch!" He glared at her and she laughed again.

The five sat down in their booth with Lucy and Gray on one side and Lisanna, Erza, and Natsu on the other.

"Hey, guys," Lucy said. "What do you think of having a party at my place for Chirstmas Eve? We could invite everyone from the shop, and-"

"No," Erza said quickly. "Your apartment is too small for that."

"Okay?" Lucy asked, still rather confused as to why Erza was so opposed to her plans.

"We should pick another venue." Nobody bothered to argue with what Erza said because they knew they wouldn't win.

"What about Gray's house?" Lisanna asked. "It's big."

"Yeah! Let's trash Gray's house!" Natsu yelled. Erza smacked him on the arm and heimmediately shut up.

"What is it?" Lucy asked. "Hit Natsu Day?" Natsu whimpered and the whole group laughed at him. "So, what do you say to my party being at your house, Gray?"

"If it's at my house, it's my party."

Suddenly, everyone felt that giving Gray free rein over the party was a really _bad _idea.

"How could you even try that?!" Gray screamed. Lucy covered her ears. The day of the party had finally come, and though it had started out being a lot of fun, things had taken a nasty turn when Cana arrived with a bottle of questionable origin.

"I thought it would be funny!" Cana said, crossing her arms. "You're no fun, Gray."

"I don't understand why you thought it would be funny to spike the drinks! Just because you're legal doesn't mean the rest of us are!"

"It's no big deal."

"Do you know what would happen if Natsu got drunk?"

Cana roared in laughter. "That would be great!"

"No, it wouldn't! This house would be burned to the ground!"

Having had enough of the yelling, Lucy decided to step out on the deck. She thought that she was going to be alone out there, but when she came outside, she saw none other than Erza.

"Oh, hey." Erza looked up and gave Lucy a small wave, but quickly returned to staring off at the Christmas lights on other houses.

Feeling like she could do nothing for her friend, she went back inside. Gray and Cana's screaming match was over, so Lucy walked up to Gray and tapped him on the shoulder. Gray understood the message and quietly slipped away to the deck.

Lucy kept walking until she bumped into someone. She was about to apologize until she looked up into the smiling face of Natsu.

"Hey, Luce!" he yelled, throwing an arm over her shoulder. She smiled at him before looking around the room and noticing that Lisanna was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's Lisanna?" she asked. Natsu looked confused for a second, but realized what she was talking about soon enough.

"Oh, she couldn't make it. Something else came up." Lucy felt frustration burning in her heart. How could her genius plans fail so miserably?

Cana walked up to the duo. "Lucy, you gotta teach this kid to dance. He and his cat are scarring everyone here with their bad dancing."

"HEY!"Natsu yelled in response. "Lucy, you have to teach me to dance better!" He grabbed her hand and pulled her into the middle of the dance floor, eager to show her his moves and ask how he could improve them. Soon, Lucy had forgotten all about her failed plan and just let herself have fun with her crazy friend.

Meanwhile, Gray slowly pushed his back door open and peeked outside. Out there, in the cold, stood Erza, hair blowing in the freezing December night wind. Her jacket was obviously more than thick enough for the weather, though. She slightly resembled a marshmallow, but Gray knew he'd get a fist to the face if he told her that. She seemed deep in thought and was quite the contrast to the festive party going on inside.

"Leave it to Erza Scarlet to be moping at a party," Gray said before taking a swig of one of the drinks he'd saved from being spiked. Her head snapped up and she sent Gray a fierce glare.

"Leave it to Gray Fullbuster to not let me mope at a party."

He snorted. "If you wanted to be upset, why did you even come?"

"Lucy. I'd hear it from her for a month if I skipped."

"Well, then," Gray said before letting out a big sigh. "How about you get some Christmas spirit and get in there? You'll hear it from Lucy if you don't try to have fun." She only shrugged and looked away. Gray sighed again. "I won't make you, Scarlet. Do what you want. You always do."

Erza watched him disappear through his back door and into the group of people inside. She rolled her eyes. "Stupid Gray." He should've known she just didn't like parties. She was okay with small gatherings like the ones they had at Lucy's apartment, but bigger ones just had too many people for her to be comfortable. She needed more time to get used to that sort of thing. At places like work or school, she was fine because she was there with a purpose. She had a definite job to get done and she would do it and leave. But at parties, Erza honestly didn't know what to do.

She blew her bangs from her eyes and tried to decide on a course of action. It wasn't like she didn't know everyone in there, and there was still a good amount of time before the party was over.

"I'm going to regret this," Erza mumbled as she went inside.

Music was blaring from the speakers and people were dancing happily to Christmas tunes. Erza almost got knocked over by Levy and that transfer student from their school, Gajeel, but she brushed it off and went in search of Gray.

She found him seated in front of a counter chatting with Mira. As she walked over, she saw Mira's face light up.

"Ah, just the girl I was about to ask you about, Gray! Are you two dating?"

Gray choked on his drink. Erza glared at her coworker with all her might.

"Is who dating?" Gray asked as he wiped his mouth with his arm. He turned around to see this "girl" Mira had been talking about. When he saw that it was none other than Erza, his face went nearly as red as her hair.

Mira beamed. "Oh, you two are so cute! It's true, isn't it? You _are_dating, right?"

"Mira, what gave you that idea?" the redhead asked as she reached for a drink off the counter. Gray felt even more embarrassed. It was obvious that Erza didn't like the sound of them together, and it made his heart sink a little bit.

"Oh, I don't know." Mirajane sighed happily, tilting her head to the side. "It just seems that you two really like each other!"

Gray choked on his drink again. Was he really that obvious? He had only decided that he liked Erza a few days before!

"WHAT!?"he and Erza simultaneously yelled. By this time, other people at the party were looking their way, and Erza began to feel uncomfortable with all the attention.

"Does it really seem that way?" she asked quietly, trying not to make another outburst.

"Are you kidding?" Gray demanded, looking extremely embarrassed."There's no way I'd ever like that she-beast!"

He chose the wrong words, though, because he felt a hand hit the back of his head.

He could only be so surprised, since it was Erza and she had hit Natsu in the head with a purse not too long before. She had beaten him up plenty of times, but this one was different. Not only was there malice in her attack, but there was also hurt.

"Next time you try to give this 'she-beast' advice, I think I'll ignore it," she said cooly before heading for the front door. As soon as she had left, the whole room burst into sympathetic "aww"s and non-sympathetic laughter, the latter mostly from Natsu.

Wakaba, a friend of Mr. Makarov, came and clapped Gray on the shoulder. "She's a tough one, son, but you'll get through to her someday." Gray only nodded, the upset feeling in the pit of his stomach only getting bigger.

Secretly, he was happy that Mira thought he and Erza were dating. However, the disgusted tone in Erza's voice had discouraged him greatly, and he wanted to hide his feelings as quickly as possible before his embarrassment made it obvious to Erza that he liked her. If she knew, what would she do? Punch him in the face? Ignore him? The latter was more likely and much worse. He wanted more out of their relationship now, but if she ignored him, he wasn't quite sure how he'd handle it.

He wanted to do something about what had just happened, but it felt like his feet wouldn't move. He fidgeted in his seat before Mira grabbed him by the arm and got his attention.

"Go after her, Gray," she said, just as bright and cheery as ever.

He smiled back and nodded. He stood up and rushed out of his house, hardly caring that half the people in the room probably knew his secret now.

Erza kicked a rock and watched it sink into the snow on someone's lawn. She stuffed her hands into her pockets and thought of just how miserable she was. Not because Gray had called her a she-beast, but because of the way she had reacted to him throughout the night.

For some odd reason, she did value his advice, and she cared what he thought of her. Maybe it was because of the way he'd squeezed his way into her life, or maybe it was because of how he seemed to know so _much _about her and the way that she worked that she wondered if he knew her better than she knew herself.

Either way, it had been something about the influence he had over her that made her join the party when Lucy couldn't convince her to do the same. It was that same quality that had her searching for him once she joined the party, and the same one that had caused her to be hurt when he called her a she-beast in front of so many people.

It was embarrassing, to be honest, for one of the few people who had taken such a deep interest in her well-being to insult her in front of people. A few months ago, she wouldn't have cared. But now? Even if it wasn't romantic, Gray and Erza had a connection, and it was seen by the Fairy Tail employees and their regular customers, also known as all the people who had been at that party. It almost felt like he had been belittling their relationship, like he didn't think it was important.

But the part that Erza hated the most was her lack of control around him.

He had been one of the first people to see just how nasty her nasty side could be. She had then shown him how quiet, sensitive, protective, and weak she could be. In a short time, he had seen just about all of her there was to see, and now, he was the main person she trusted to see that. She didn't _have _to keep her walls up with him, because he'd tear them down anyway.

Now, she was thinking she hadn't been careful enough.

She was still absorbed in her thoughts when she heard a voice yelling out her name.

"Erza!"Gray yelled as he slid down the ice on a small hill and continued to run toward her.

"You're going to-"

She was cut off when Gray reached her and wrapped his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Fall," she whispered.

"Ah, I was so worried," he muttered into her shoulder.

"Why would you be worried?" Erza asked, trying not to laugh at his ridiculous behavior.

"I thought you might've been crying or something." He squeezed her tighter for a second. "I hate it when you cry…"

She snorted in slight annoyance. "Why?"

"It makes you look stupid."

…

Gray was punched in the stomach.

"You're so stupid," Erza said with the smallest of smiles on her face. "I swear, you're about to give me a headache."

"Hey, look who's back."

She frowned "What do you mean?"

"Whenever you cry or get all mopey or whatever like you were today," he began slowly. "You don't seem like yourself. To be honest, when you get like that, I almost miss the Erza who beats me up."

"What are you? A masochist?" she yelled as he stepped closer to her.

It took a moment to register, but soon Erza blushed at their close proximity. Gray brought his face down to hers, until their mouths were only inches away.

_Ba-bump._

"Yeah," he whispered, his warm breath tickling her cheeks. "But only when I'm around you."

_Ba-bump._

"_What did he just do to me?" _Erza asked herself, trying to hide her reddening cheeks.

He turned around and began to walk away. "I'm gonna go back to the party. Now that I know you're not crying or anything..."

"Gray."

He stopped slowly, turning his head around with an eyebrow raised. "Yeah?"

"I think you're right." She watched herself draw a line in the snow with her foot, not wanting to look at him. "I... I don't like crying very much either."

He chuckled, looking over his shoulder at her. "Go on home, Scarlet. You'll get sick if you stay out here too long."

And with that, he walked off into the snow.

* * *

So, here's the deal. I wanna get the next chapter up before The week before Easter. Why? Because I'm going on a mission trip to Haiti that week! I've never been on a mission trip before, so I'm super excited about getting to share Jesus with people! So, I wanna get the chapter up, but I don't know if I will, since I've got a lot of preparation stuff going on. There still a LOT I have to do before we leave. We'll see. But I'll try. I already started a little bit of it, so if I work hard, I can get it up!

This time's question: Any other fandom you're in love with right now? For me, it's Fullmetal Alchemist. I just wanna read it, like, all day. xD And my favorite FT crack pairings are Loke/Juvia, Laxus/Mira, and Jellal/Ultear. :D

Shoutouts~

Raikiri 80 – I don't think I'll ever get over how much potential GrayZa has. Mashima-san, doushite?! Kimi wo suki ni natte shimattan darou~ *smacked for singing TVXQ*  
HanaIchi Ikari – It can be so hard to keep updating. Good luck! I still have to get caught up on your stories. I miss Mystique. ;.;  
Y – Yep. That's my goal. Make people reconsider their OTPs. xD Okay, not really.  
prae33 – Oh yeah! I love Laxus and Mira. I totally ship them xD  
FairyTailLover333 – Here is the NaLu! Haha, there's a ton more to come, I promise. It's just that the story is mostly GrayZa.  
Shinju-Chu – Ugh, how I wish that GrayZa was more popular! Haha, I'm glad you like the story, though.  
– I never really thought about that, but I suppose you're right. I guess it was since he was confessing to Lucy and not Erza herself.  
Avatarfan444 – I'm glad you like reading it! I love writing these two. The fluff is so much fun.  
Gray80 – haha, loving it before it's even here? Alrighty. xD  
InsigniaofFairyTail – Haha, we'll see if Gray's nervous or not. He probably will be, since he likes Erza so much! *squee*  
Banana Ninja – Thanks so much! I'm glad you like the story! I'll do my best to keep writing good things. J And Jellal and Ultear? OMGOODESS I totally ship them! I'm so glad I'm not the only one! xD And Loke and Cana is super cute, too.  
theformulaofpudding - *gasps* is that… Envy as your icon? Ugh! I hate him because he killed Hughes, but I'm so glad to find someone who reads my story AND loves FMA! *so conflicted* haha xD  
Laynie Cakes – Lyon will come soon. Oops! I'm putting in a spoiler… I can't say any more!  
LoveMadness – Thank you! J  
xXWolfBoundXx – That is a wonderous idea! xD I love Happy in this story!  
pinkkoala213 - Aww, you're making me blush! (Or blush as much as I can. I'm too tan so it doesn't really show up when I blush xD) I saw this review and was like, "I must keep writing!" Thank you so much! By the way, OldRivalshipping for the win! ;)  
claudeath 17 – I saw your review and thought, "Maybe she'll be happy to know that I'll be updating soon." xD


	19. What in the World

Hey, guys! It's still me. I just changed my penname again. I'm leaving for Haiti in less than 24 hours. WHOOP! I wanted to post this chapter before I left. The sad thing is that I won't be able to see most of your reviews until I come home, but I hope you'll leave them anyway. Please pray for our team! We've been through a lot with just the preparation, and every day, something changes in our plans! But it'll be amazing. **I love you! Jesus loves you, too! I'll see you all when I get back. :)**

Enjoy the new chapter!  
- RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Nineteen: What in the World

.x.x.x.

It had turned out that Mira, although enjoying matchmaking, had no certain ability that made her especially perceptive when it came to prospective couples; it was plain to see for even people who were not romantic in nature. Within a matter of days, all Fairy Tail's staff, its frequent customers – save Juvia – and all of Makarov's good friends realized that Gray had some feelings for Erza.

Gray had become more open in his affections, and the little things he did – the staring, the small smiles, the occasional hug – could hardly be classified as simply "friendly" any longer. The only people who seemed not to notice this were Erza herself, and Juvia, who was still blinded by her hopeless crush on Gray. It was so obvious that even Natsu picked up on it. Gray felt stupid, but it seemed that everyone was supporting him anyway, so he had no reason to have any apprehension.

By New Year's Eve, just a week after the Christmas party, the entire Fairy Tail staff enjoyed subtly teasing Gray and asking when he planned to make a move. Gray always answered honestly: he didn't know.

What was so plain to everyone else was nearly impossible for Erza to notice. Gray had no idea how he would ever express his newly found feelings to her. It was almost as if every single time he tried, he would freeze up at the most crucial moment.

A prime example of this was at the Fairy Tail New Year's Party. The staff closed up the shop and had a party inside, complete with hot chocolate and lots of coffee for anyone who felt like they were too tired to stay up until midnight. Right before the countdown, Gray had dragged Erza outside the shop.

"Gray, where are we going?" she said in a frustrated voice.

"Don't ask questions." He grabbed her hand and led her to the back of the shop. From there, they climbed up a fire escape ladder and – despite Erza's constant complaining about how Gray was being ridiculous – hauled themselves up onto the roof.

"I discovered this spot last year," Gray said as he sat down on the flat roof. "When City Hall sends up fireworks, you can see them perfectly from up here. And they do the biggest ones I've seen in Magnolia." He patted the spot on his left and Erza sat down next to him.

"Does anyone else know about this?" she asked quietly.

"Nope," Gray said with a grin. "You're the first person I've shown."

"Thanks."

There it was again. That stupid little pounding in her chest that Erza had been experiencing whenever she was around Gray.

She glanced down at her watch. There were only twenty seconds until the fireworks.

Gray scooted closer to her. She tried not to flinch and scoot away.

Ten seconds.

He threw his arm around her shoulders. She wanted to push him off, but it felt sort of nice.

Five, four, three, two…

"Happy New Year, Erza," Gray whispered as the fireworks lit up the sky with an array of colors. The redhead smiled brightly, moving a little closer to the edge of the roof to take in all the sights. They were just as amazing as Gray had said. She was about to thank him, but then, she turned to the boy sitting next to her and got an unpleasant surprise.

He was about two inches away from her face.

"You know what people do at New Year's?" She felt his cool breath on her face and shivered.

"What?" she asked shakily, refusing to look him in the eyes. He moved his hand over hers and began to intertwine their fingers, giving her hand a squeeze.

"They kiss." Erza should have seen those words coming. But she had no clue how to react. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could in preparation.

…

"Boo."

Her eyes snapped open, and, much to her dismay, Gray was practically rolling around on the roof, _laughing_. "Just joking, Erza," he said lightheartedly.

Erza wasn't sure what he had just done. Her heart had felt like it was going to explode, but then he just let her down! As a natural Erza-like reaction, she simply sent her fist sailing into his gut.

Now, one can see why this is a great example of how Gray managed to royally mess things up. However, this was most likely the best example, because several days after it happened, Erza was still reluctant to talk to him.

"What did you do?" Lucy asked him one day at lunch. College had just gotten back into session, and everyone was still trying to adjust to getting up early. As such, Gray was putting his head down on the table in a futile attempt to get some rest. The combination of being tired and his situation with Erza was causing him to be in a pretty bad mood.

"I tried to kiss her. But I thought she wouldn't like it, so I chickened out at the last second and made a joke out of it. And she punched me, Lucy."

"You should've just done it. Then she might have kissed you back."

"I don't know about that." He sighed.

"She probably would've punched you either way," Natsu said as he seemingly came out of nowhere and sat down. "This is Erza we're talking about. She might've punched you even if you hadn't done anything."

"That's very possible," Lucy added.

"I'd rather have her punch me than ignore me," Gray mumbled miserably. Lucy "aww"ed and Natsu chuckled.

"He's such a sap!"

Gray was still brooding when he went to work that day. He desperately wanted to take out his frustration on a soccer ball, but practices for the spring season didn't start for another two weeks. His bad mood was noticed by the customers, who gave him sympathetic smiles, and, if they knew him by name, would ask what was wrong. He insisted he was fine, but if Natsu could tell he was in a funk, anyone could. Natsu tended to be pretty dense about that type of thing.

He left the shop quickly that night after realizing he had something very important to do at home. But his bad attitude and his rushing were obviously beginning to affect more than his mood, because he left two of his textbooks at the shop.

"Hey, Erza?" Lucy called. "Gray left these books here. Would you mind running them to him?"

"Why can't you do it?" Erza asked as she started to blush a little. She _really _didn't want to go to Gray's house after she had been embarrassed by him so badly the week before. He had almost kissed her! Erza didn't know what to do about those types of things. Her brain didn't work around Gray anymore.

"Natsu and I are going out to dinner. You know where Gray's house is. Just take a bus over to his neighborhood," Lucy said as she quickly grabbed her things. It was true that she and Natsu were planning on getting dinner together, but she really wanted Erza to work out whatever was going on between her and Gray so things could go back to normal – or at least back to their usual level of weirdness. "Bye, Erza! See you tomorrow!" Lucy yelled before hurrying out of the shop with Natsu.

Erza sighed heavily. "Such an idiot…" she mumbled as she glared at the two textbooks Gray had left behind. She didn't want to go to his house, but not going would show some sign of weakness, and Erza Scarlet did _not _like to show signs of weakness. "Alright!" she said, firming her resolve. "The idiot will get his books back!"

It was very awkward when Erza knocked on the door of Gray's house. Not because of her own nervousness, but because she wasn't the only person there.

This was evidenced by the loud noise she heard when she walked up to the door, and when Gray yelled, "WILL YOU GUYS SHUT UP? I'M TRYING TO ANSWER THE DOOR!" Erza stiffened when the door opened, revealing an exasperated-looking Gray. He ran a hand through his hair. "Oh. Hey."

"Hey." She raised the books in her hand. "You left these at the shop."

"Oh, thanks," he replied with a smile. "I was looking for thes—" A pillow flew at the door, causing Erza to duck to keep it from hitting her. "MOM!" Gray yelled right before he was smacked in the face with another pillow projectile.

"Mom?" Erza asked quietly. Sure enough, there was a tall, slender woman with short black hair making her way to the door.

"Gray? You bring girls over here? What have you been doing?" the woman asked angrily as she grabbed Gray by the ear.

"This is just a friend! Will you let go of me?" he shouted. The woman dropped Gray's ear and thrust a hand out towards Erza.

"Nice to meet you," she said, putting on a smile. "I'm Ur Milkovich, Gray's mom."

It wasn't long before Erza found herself sitting at Gray's dining room table with his "mom." It turned out that Gray was adopted when he was seven, though Ur would not give the specifics as to how Gray's actual parents passed away. Ur and her other adopted son, Lyon Bastia, were at Gray's house, and Gray had been giving them a hard time when Erza showed up.

"It's your fault," Gray sulked, sinking into his seat. "You should at least call more than one day ahead before you just show up here. I had, like, no time to clean or anything!"

"I pay for you to live here, young man," Ur snapped. "So hush it."

Normally, Erza would have smiled at someone telling Gray to shut up. However, ever since Ur had introduced herself, Erza could only think about one thing:

He didn't have a normal family, just like she didn't.

"There is _not_ enough to eat in this house," an unfamiliar voice said. Erza looked up to see a very handsome guy walk in—without a shirt.

"There was before you showed up!" Gray yelled. Erza 'eeped' and assumed this man was the Lyon who had been mentioned earlier. He was tall, though not as tall as Gray, and he had hair so blonde it was almost white. His hair was spiked, giving him a dangerous appearance, and his eyes were narrow and calculating. Gray looked over to see Erza staring at his brother. "Put a shirt on! We've got a girl over here!" He scowled. Lyon was always so annoying.

"A girl?" Lyon asked. He looked in Erza's direction and gave her a wink. "Nice to meet you." She flushed and looked away. Gray opened his mouth to yell at Lyon, but never got the chance.

"Lyon Bastia!" Ur shouted. "Get the heck out of this room! You're almost as bad as your brother!" Erza guessed that they were talking about Gray's stripping habit.

"I got the habit from you!" Gray retaliated, yelling at his mom.

"At least _I'm_ not completely topless when I do it! I keep the camisole on! I'm much more decent than either one of you!" Soon enough, the dining room erupted into a full-scale argument.

"Man," Gray mumbled after having been bested by his mom. "This really isn't going to work if you guys are going to live here all the time."

"Huh?" Erza asked.

"Yes," Ur said. "We're moving in this weekend. Lyon wants to go to Magnolia University's Law School, and I have nothing else to do sitting up in Canada alone, so I came along."

"Canada?" Erza asked in surprise. "Do you miss it there?"

"Not really. I grew up there and adopted the boys there. We later moved down here, but I only moved back a year ago, when Gray was old enough to stay in this house by himself." This certainly explained why Gray lived in a house by himself, which was something Erza had always wondered about.

"So, you're from Canada?" Erza asked Gray.

"Yep."

"Oh," she mumbled. It always surprised Erza that she knew so little about Gray's life. It wasn't like they had just met – they spent their senior year of high school and their first semester of college together and even worked at the same place. Yet, in that time, she had come to know so little about his life. She didn't even know he was adopted.

"What's got you so worried?"

Erza sat up straight in her chair, but she was able to relax when she saw that it was just Lyon standing behind her, even though he was still shirtless.

"Stupid jerk," Gray muttered under his breath. The last thing he wanted to see was his annoying older brother flirting with the girl he liked.

Erza swore that Gray was emitting evil rays. He was slouched in his chair with his arms crossed and glaring at his brother. When Erza looked up, she saw that Lyon was glaring right back. Caught in the awkward crossfire, Erza scooted her chair towards Ur's.

It was a good fifteen minutes of fighting before Ur told Lyon and Gray that they were disgracing their family. After that, she had told Gray to lead Erza outside and to take her home, so that his act of gentlemanly kindness could slightly redeem him in her eyes. It was utterly embarrassing to Gray, and he was kind of upset that Ezra had seen his wacky family in the first place.

Once they were in Gray's car, he felt like he was far enough from his family to talk to Erza.

"I'm really sorry about them," he said. "They're not usually… No, scratch that. They _are_ usually that ridiculous."

"You're not any less strange than they are," she countered. "Besides, I'm glad I know you have a family. I was beginning to think that you didn't."

"What about you?"

She blushed slightly. "Oh, well, I don't have much in the way of family."

Gray nodded. "Natsu's like that too. And then Lucy… I guess none of us has normal family lives."

Erza thought about it for a second before realizing that he was right. "I guess none of us does," she agreed. It was a sad thought, but at least it was something they all had in common.

The ride back to Erza's apartment building was quiet, but it was a comfortable silence. As Erza got out of the car, however, Gray said something that surprised her.

"Where's my goodnight hug?" he asked.

She just gaped. Was he serious? "Ah, I…" Gray only laughed in response. He got out of the car and walked around to the other side.

"Goodnight, Scarlet," he said, tousling her hair. She tried to slap his hands away, but instead he just laughed again and hugged her. Erza's cheeks went bright red and she felt that odd, familiar thumping in her chest.

"Goodnight," she replied quietly. Gray gave her one last big smile before hopping back in his car and driving off. As soon as he was gone, Erza broke into a sprint and ran up straight to her apartment. She threw the door open and slammed it behind her. Leaning against the door, she heaved a heavy sigh.

"What in the world is wrong with me?" she mumbled. And, oddly, she wasn't the only one pondering that question at that particular moment.

While Erza had been meeting Gray's wacky family, Natsu and Lucy had been enjoying dinner together. They enjoyed a mutual love of good food –although Natsu's love of food was considerably greater than Lucy's – and they liked each other's company. Most of the time, if they went to dinner, they'd go with some friends from Fairy Tail or school. However, this time was the first time that the two of them had gone to dinner alone. Everyone else had had too much classwork to finish or other plans. There was nothing odd about it, since they were friends, but things took an awkward turn when Natsu said,

"Hey, Luce. Is this a date?"

Lucy immediately blushed. "W-what are you talking about?" she asked as she looked down and scratched her head.

"I've never been on a date before," he continued as if she hadn't said anything. "You must have been on lots of dates before, Lucy. What do people do on them, anyway?"

"Well," she stuttered. Lucy had always found it embarrassing to talk about dating. She found it somewhat humiliating that she was eighteen and hadn't been on a date before, but her dad's overprotective nature made it impossible for boys to approach her, and most of the ones who liked her in high school had been looking at her money, anyway. But then, she realized something about what Natsu had just said. "Wait. Why did you assume I'd been on a lot of dates before?"

"You're very pretty, Lucy," Natsu said. His eyes almost looked like they were sparkling as he stared at her. "Pretty people get dates, don't they? Someone must've dated you before."

Then he ruined the moment by shoving food in his mouth.

"Man!" he said as he chewed. "This food is great! If this is what people do when they go on dates, I wanna go on a whole lot of 'em!"

At this, Lucy saw an opportunity to mention someone else. "Have you ever considered going on a date with Lisanna?"

"Why would I go on a date with her?" he asked, looking genuinely confused.

"No reason," Lucy muttered, feeling slightly disappointed.

Natsu thought about her suggestion for a little bit longer before he shrugged. "I think I'll just stick to going on dates with you."

Lucy's cheeks stayed bright red for the rest of the night. As soon as she got back to her apartment, she flopped herself down on the bed. Snuggling into her pillow, she asked, "What in the world is wrong with me?"

* * *

**Question time: If you could travel to any place in the world, where would it be? **For me? Haiti (of course) and Japan!

There's NaLu! I love NaLu. :D And I just HAD to stick Ur and Lyon in this story. xD More on them later. It's time for the shoutouts!

DiamondRainbows – LOL xD

IcedSoulFairy – I'm glad you liked it! I love GrayZa fluff x3 And JelTear is just super amazing. Thank you! I will definitely love being able to spread God's word. :D

GoldenRoseTanya – Haha, thank you!

AngelsFairyTail – Thanks a lot!

Y – ANGEL BEATS IS LIKE THE SADDEST THING EVER OH MY GOSH JUST CAN'T DEAL agjgsdgdajegudn

Raikiri80 – Yeah, I never was big on Gruvia. They're just not my style. FMA is so amazing. It's like my favorite manga now, haha. It's just so good! And I want to write for it, but IDK how. *weeps* Anyway, thanks a lot! :D

HanaIchi Ikari – WAHH, we need to talk. I miss you guys so much! And there's more not-kissing agony… Gray has to man up! And I'll do my best to help lots of people in Haiti! After the trip, it's spring break, so I can spend that time catching up on your fanfics (read: re-reading them because it's been a while lol)!

Shinju-chu – I'm glad you like it! I'm really happy that I can make other people happy with my writing. :)

claudeath17 – I know, right? xD

LoveMadness – It kinda surprises me how people never think of Gray and Erza, but they're the other 2 members of Team Natsu, so it's not impossible. The team is so close. J

InsigniaofFairyTail – Haha, I have fans! WHOO! I'm famous! xD Okay, not really, but close enough. I'm glad that I'm updating, too. :D

Vehemens Ford – Haha, GrayZa has such great fluff potential. I really love writing about them. J

pinkkoala213 – Yeah, Gray better have run! I, as the author, would have beaten him up if he hadn't. (rofl) Anyways, I'm thinking of writing some OldRival stuff. I read a bunch of it recently, so I got inspired. xD I should probably read more of the manga, though. xD The mission trip is going to be amazing. It's like, all I can think about right now!

GrayZa-Shipper – Hooray for sweet GrayZa! xD I love making Mira a matchmaker!

Gray80 – Glad you like it J I was hoping you'd see it!


	20. Lyon and Loke, Kings of Hearts

GrayZa Week may be over, but the spirit marches on! ONWARD! I'm extending GrayZa Week! (okay, I really wanted to post this on GrayZa Week I'm late)  
Anyway, in case you hadn't heard, it was GrayZa Week on Tumblr. I only found out when the week was mostly over because I don't have a Tumblr, but other authors have been posting one-shots based on the daily prompts and there's been fanart and such. It's wonderful! I drew a little comic in honor of the week. It's cheesy, short, and entirely in Japanese (I was practicing), but I'm very satisfied with it (because it's cute).  
By the by, Haiti is lovely, guys. It's gorgeous (it's a Caribbean island, after all), and the people are so happy, even though they don't have much. I miss it *weeps* *gets better* Go if you ever get the chance! Or on a mission trip anywhere! I HIGHLY recommend it! Okay! On to the story! :D

Enjoy!  
-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Twenty: Lyon and Loke, Kings of Hearts

.x.x.x.

"What's wrong with your brother, anyway?" Natsu whispered to Gray. The two of them were currently manning the counter at Fairy Tail and were watching the strangest of events. Right before them, in the middle of the shop, Juvia was being fought over by two boys.

The first was Natsu and Gray's friend Drake, a member of the soccer team who frequented the shop and had had a crush on Juvia for a while. The second and more surprising of the two was Lyon, Gray's older brother, who had just declared his undying love for Juvia out of nowhere. On top of that, he had just met her.

The arrival of Gray's family in Magnolia caused much more hullabaloo than anyone had originally expected. Gray knew that his family was coming back to live with him, but he had not taken the time to consider how this development would affect his personal life.

He had been forced to consider it earlier that day, when Lyon came to visit Fairy Tail for the first time. Gray had only begun working there after Lyon and Ur moved to Canada, so Lyon had never been to the place. Gray had figured it would be embarrassing for Lyon to come in – Lyon was always embarrassing, though, and Gray had almost gotten used to it – but he hadn't expected things to get so out of hand. Good thing Erza was in the kitchen at the time. If she hadn't been, Lyon, Drake, _and_ Juvia all would have gotten kicked right out of the shop, and Gray didn't know what he would tell his mom if that happened.

Gray sighed and buried his head in his hands. He was so glad that he didn't look like Lyon. No one would expect them to be related if they didn't look like they were.

"What happened?" Lucy asked. "I was in the kitchen and I heard all this yelling. What's going on?"

"Well, it kinda went like this," Natsu said before he began to recount the whole story.

Juvia skipped into the Fairy Tail coffee shop. Since Gray had been busy hanging out with his other friends, and her "love rival," Lucy, Juvia hadn't gotten to see much of him around. He was in the shop, but he was either busy doing something in the back or talking to one of his friends. But surely, she'd talk to him now, no matter what got in the way.

Gray looked rather bored, standing behind the counter, Natsu standing next to him. Business was slow at that particular time of day, so nothing was really going on in the shop. However, Gray did perk up a bit when he saw Juvia.

"Hey!" he called. "What can I get ya?"

The words barely registered in Juvia's head, as she was still staring at Gray's gorgeous face. But after a few seconds, she was able to snap back to reality. "Ah, I'll have a–"

"Gray! This is the place where you work?"

"Oh, heck, no." Gray looked in disbelief at the door of Fairy Tail, which had just been flung open. And in it stood...

"Lyon."

"Not that bad, but it's not that good, either," Lyon said cockily as he sauntered up to the counter. "Typical of you."

"Say another word and I'll sic Mom on you."

Lyon and Gray had engaged in an all-out war of glaring when Juvia looked up to take a peek at the man next to her. His features were sharp, and his hair was such a light blonde that it was almost white, like snow. She couldn't help but admit to herself that he was almost as good looking as Gray. _Almost_.

After a good bit of the glare-war, Lyon tore his gaze away from his brother long enough to notice the girl standing next to him. Immediately, he thought she was the most beautiful girl he had ever seen in his life! Her exotic features looked like no other. And her wacky blue hair was amazing! He immediately took the hands of the girl.

"Where have you been all my life, beautiful?"

"HUH?!" Gray and Juvia exclaimed at the same time for different reasons. Gray couldn't believe his brother had the audacity to act like that in public. Well, he could, but he was still surprised by it. Juvia, on the other hand, was shocked that someone had taken an interest in her. And that the someone wasn't Gray! Meanwhile, Natsu cracked up in the background.

"We can get out of here right now. We can leave my idiot brother–"

"Hey!"

"–and go somewhere special, if you want."

"Wait," said Juvia. "You're Gray's brother?"

"Unfortunately," Gray mumbled.

"We're adopted," said Lyon. "So none of his stupidity has passed on to me."

"Hey!"

Juvia knew that this person was making fun of her beloved Gray, but she couldn't help but giggle. Smiling, she said, "I actually like your brother–"

"Thank you."

"–and I would like some coffee."

Gray looked triumphantly at Lyon and proceeded to make Juvia her order, a mocha cappuccino with extra foam. Once she got her order, however, Lyon whisked her off to the table farthest away from the main counter. Juvia was surprised, but she didn't want to be rude, so she sat down. How bad could this guy be? He was, after all, Gray's brother, even if they were adopted. Maybe if she was in good standing with the family, they wouldn't mind her – hopefully – dating Gray someday.

Lyon turned out to be good company. He was smart, funny, and pleasant. Juvia had thought that talking to him would be a nightmare, but she was surprised by how well she got along with Gray's brother.

In the midst of their laughing, the door to the shop opened again. Soon, Juvia heard her name being called out. She turned around in her chair and her heart dropped a bit.

"Who's that?" Drake asked calmly.

"This is Lyon," Juvia explained. "Gray's brother." Ever since she had kissed Drake – only days before – Juvia wasn't sure what to do about it. And despite her being oblivious to most love-related things, she knew that she was in trouble.

"Oh," Drake quietly said before turning away and walking towards the counter.

Juvia slumped towards the table and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, man..."

"And that's what happened."

"That's an awfully detailed account," Lucy said in surprise. "But why would Drake be mad that another guy was flirting with Juvia?"

Gray didn't miss a beat with his answer. "They kissed the other day."

"WHAT?!" Lucy exclaimed. "How did I miss this?"

"Juvia just kept staring at me. Drake was talking to her, but she was looking at me from across the room. Then she just grabbed Drake and kissed him. Then she looked at me again. I walked away."

"Smart," said Natsu.

"Why would she do something like that?" asked Lucy. Gray just shrugged. The blonde thought about it for a second before commenting, "Maybe she was trying to make you jealous."

Gray tried to tune her out, but then Natsu began to talk. "She probably has a crush on you." Gray started humming to drown out the noise of his two friends. Natsu punched him. "Don't be a jerk, you jerk!"

"Dude," Gray hissed. "I know about it. But you know who I like and–"

"Who do you like?" Erza asked, popping up out of nowhere. The other three Fairy Tail employees jumped in surprise.

"Nobody!" yelled Lucy.

"Nothing!" exclaimed Gray.

"You!" said Natsu. Realizing his mistake, he quickly said, "You… Yulanda Peters! She's that new singer. We were talking about how you can't look her up on YouTube because she's too new!" He laughed awkwardly and Gray and Lucy were forced to join in the laughing. Erza stared at them blankly for a good thirty seconds.

"Oh. Okay." She walked away to take a customer's order. Once she was gone, the trio all let out sighs of relief.

"That was close," Gray muttered.

"Natsu, Yulanda isn't even a real name!"

"Lots of names aren't real!"

"Who cares?!" Gray asked loudly. The other two just stared at him. Gray turned to face Natsu. "Natsu, you're an idiot." The two then began one of their classic fights, but Lucy pushed them apart.

"You're both idiots," she complained. "Get yourselves together!" Gray and Natsu relented and went back to working. However, not too many people were coming into the coffee shop, and the people already there seemed more absorbed in their laptops or phones than they were in their coffee. Mira was taking care of most of the customers. Erza had gone off into the kitchen again. And Gray, Lucy, and Natsu felt incredibly bored.

"Do you guys wanna play a game?" Natsu asked, putting his head down on the counter.

"Don't put your head down there or we'll have to clean it," Lucy whined.

Natsu ignored her and continued, "Maybe we should go do something after work."

"We could go shopping!" Lucy suggested. The boys both glared at her, and she gave the idea up entirely.

Gray thought about fun things to do before saying, "We should have a movie night. Like a marathon or something. We can stay up late and eat a bunch of junk food and regret it in the morning."

"I like food!" Natsu exclaimed.

"Sounds good to me," said Lucy. "Your place? You have the big TV."

"Yeah. I don't think my mom will mind, and if Lyon does, he can just stuff it."

"We need to do it on Saturday." Once again, Gray, Lucy, and Natsu jumped up in shock. They turned around to see Erza standing behind them. "I have a really big test this week, so Saturday will be good."

"Erza," Gray said, placing his hand over his chest. "You really gotta stop doing that. You'll give us all heart attacks."

"Sorry. But we're going to do it on Saturday. Any objections?" The others shook their heads. "Good." Erza walked off and the others watched her walk away.

"She's still scary," Natsu commented.

"Yeah," Gray and Lucy said slowly.

The following night, Gray walked into another coffee shop, one of the many that lined the vibrant street that ran down the heart of Magnolia, 13th Street. Gray would have gone to his workplace, but too many people would recognize him there. Since Fairy Tail was so close to the college, many students Gray knew got their coffee there. If anyone he knew overheard the conversation he was planning to have, he would never live it down. This other shop was smaller and not nearly as crowded as Fairy Tail usually was; thus, Gray found the person he was looking for very quickly.

"Hey!" he called out. A tall male with reddish hair and glasses turned around.

"Gray!" he exclaimed, coming up to his friend and enveloping him in a hug. "I haven't seen you in a while."

"Been busy with school and work. Soccer's going to start soon, too," Gray said as he sat down at a table in the shop. "How've you been, Loke?"

"Fine," the other man said. "Still working on that internship I told you about last time." Gray nodded. "But I know you didn't call me here just to talk. You want something."

Gray couldn't help but laugh. His friend hadn't changed at all. "I need some advice, and you're the best person for this sort of thing."

Loke gasped. "You're still single?!" he exclaimed loudly for anyone nearby to hear. Fortunately, the smaller coffee shop didn't have very many people in it, but Gray was still embarrassed.

"Stop broadcasting stuff to the whole world, you idiot."

"That's not what you say to someone you want a favor from."

"…Point taken."

Loke laughed again. "You were always popular growing up, but you were never brave enough to date."

"That's not it!" Gray shot back. "I just didn't like anyone. It's not like I couldn't get a girlfriend if I wanted just anybody. I even have a stalker."

Loke looked around the coffee shop and then leaned closer. "Is she cute?"

Gray shrugged. "I guess. I just don't like her that way."

"Do you need me to seduce her for you? You know, get her off your tail?"

"No, thanks," Gray said dismissively. "My stupid brother fell 'in love' with her. And another one of my friends liked her already."

"Ah," Loke replied. "So, do you like anyone?"

"Well, that's what I came here to talk to you about. I like this girl but–"

"Wait a second," came Loke's interruption. "You like a girl, but another girl likes you. And _that _girl has not one, but _two_ people who like her."

"Pretty much," Gray said with a nod.

Loke laughed loudly, leaning back in his chair. "That's like a love triangle on steroids!" Gray glared at him for a moment, but after realizing the truth of the statement, he slowly began to laugh as well. Soon, their laughter filled the shop in which they sat.

Gray wiped a tear away from his eyes. "It is pretty funny," he admitted. "Kinda dumb, too."

"Yeah," Loke agreed. "But anyway, who's this girl you like so much?"

"I don't know if you ever met her, but she went to high school with me last year. Erza Scarlet?" Loke's face looked like something out of a cartoon in that moment. His mouth was so wide open that Gray was sure that if he opened it any more, it would hit the floor. "What?" Gray asked. "What's wrong?"

Loke slammed his hands down on the table and looked very seriously at his friend. "E-Erza Scarlet? You have a crush on Erza Scarlet?" When Gray confirmed this, Loke looked just about ready to swoon. "You're kidding me. I dated her once. Shortest relationship I ever had."

"How long?" Gray asked. Loke's relationships were notoriously short, so he wondered what the shortest ever had been. "A day?"

Loke shook his head. "No. Two hours." Gray burst into laughter once again, holding his sides.

"That's great! She dumped you, didn't she?"

"Yeah…" Gray continued to laugh loudly while Loke continued to be upset. Memories of Erza were entirely unpleasant for him. "It's hard to believe we liked the same girl."

"I'm having a movie night this weekend with her and a couple other friends," Gray explained. "I was thinking it'd just be a fun time with friends. But then I was thinking about on TV and stuff when the guy and the girl see a scary movie and the girl holds onto the guy… Do you think I should try something like that? See if she'd wanna hold onto me?" Gray's face was entirely red by this point. He didn't like to talk about his feelings, and although his friends knew whom he liked, he'd be incredibly embarrassed if they ever heard that he actually went to ask someone such a question.

"Bingo!" Loke said. "Play something scary! I've tried that. It works in real life."

"But this is_ Erza_ we're talking about. She's not scared of anything. So, what kind of movie would work?"

"Huh." Loke scratched his head, looking rather puzzled. "I'm not sure. Maybe something sad? Character death might work. She's Erza, but she is a girl – I'm pretty sure – and girls still have feelings. She's not a robot."

Gray thought of all the movies he owned and remembered one he used to watch with his mom when he was younger. He had always hated it because the plot was so tragic and the story was otherwise lacking, but if it could get Erza sad enough to hold onto him, he might have to become grateful to the movie for life. "I've got it! Thanks, man." Gray stood up and rushed out of the shop. Loke stared at the door and frowned.

"Well, excuse me," he grumbled to himself before laughing quietly. "Ah, I just hope Erza doesn't kill him."

The rest of the week, Gray was mostly looking forward to his movie night. Juvia was spending more time at the shop, which was disconcerting, but Lyon was also there; Drake would show up, too, and occasionally there would be little spats over Juvia like there had been earlier, but on a smaller scale. Although Gray didn't trust Lyon at all and didn't want Juvia dating his brother, it was relieving not to be stalked all the time he was at work. He could only ignore it for so long.

By the time Saturday came, Gray was all nerves. He hadn't even been this nervous when he decided to teach Erza how to have fun. But now that he saw her in a romantic light, he couldn't help but feel like he didn't know how to treat her. He was thinking through all these things when the doorbell jerked him from his thoughts. He was wondering how he should say hi to Erza when he opened the door and saw it was only Lucy.

"Hey," he said, running a hand through his hair. He was getting _way_ too worked up over this. _"Just be natural when she comes," _he told himself. _"That's always worked."_

"Hey. Is Lyon here?" Lucy asked, peeking in the house. Although she had seen Lyon at Fairy Tail over the past week, she had never really talked to him and was curious as to what he was like when he wasn't declaring his love for Juvia.

"Nope. He's out of town,visiting friends with Mom. They won't be back until tomorrow afternoon, I think," Gray replied, sounding annoyed at the mention of his brother. "And it's a good thing, too. He's really annoying."

Natsu and Erza arrived around the same time, shortly after Lucy came. Soon, Gray was in the kitchen getting snacks, Natsu and Lucy were having a small-scale pillow fight, and Erza was picking out the movie. Gray's thoughts drifted to the sad movie he had left on top of the stack of DVDs in the corner. He hoped that Erza would see it so that he wouldn't have to pick it out himself.

Erza picked up a DVD with a picture of a young couple holding a baby on the case. She'd never tell anyone, but she thought that babies were incredibly adorable, so she was drawn to it instantly. "What about this one?" she yelled into the kitchen, holding up the DVD so that Gray could see it.

He had to try his best to keep from smirking. That was _just_ the movie he had been hoping she'd pick. "Are you sure?" he yelled back, trying his best to be heard over Natsu and Lucy. "That one's probably too sad for you."

Never one to back down from a challenge, Erza stood up and put her hands on her hips. "Really? We'll see about that."

They saw about it, alright.

Lucy was practically bawling into Natsu's shirt, and though Natsu was trying to be tough, he too was very close to crying. Gray had sniffled a few times, but since he had seen the movie before, he was able to keep his emotions in check. However, Erza, sitting in between Gray and Lucy, simply stared at the TV with a blank face and her arms crossed. The baby was not nearly as cute as it had previously seemed, so she was very bored. She looked around at the faces of her three friends before grabbing the remote and turning off the TV.

"This is dumb."

"Ah, I can't take it," Lucy said with a sigh, wiping her eyes. "Too much drama!" Natsu only nodded, still trying not to cry.

Erza turned to Gray. "Why do you even have that movie anyway?"

"Uh, my mom likes it," he said nervously, now more embarrassed than anything. His plan had broken into a million tiny, unfixable pieces. There was no way that Erza was going to hold onto him if that movie didn't make her feel anything. "I tried to warn you. I told you it was sad."

Erza shook her head. "That wasn't sad. It was pitiful. Natsu, put in a comedy."

At the word 'comedy,' Natsu's countenance brightened significantly. He jumped up and ran to Gray's DVD collection, looking for something fun. "Lucy!" he yelled. "Make some more popcorn!"

"No!" she yelled back. "Last time you ate it all in, like, two minutes! If you keep doing that, we'll run out."

"Then just give me some chicken!"

"That's not movie food! And get your own chicken. I'm not doing it!"

"But I'm hungry!"

"No!"

Natsu and Lucy continued to argue in the background while Gray and Erza still sat on the couch. Gray scooted closer to her, and though she looked slightly wary, she didn't move away. "Are you having fun?"

"I will be as soon as the comedy is in there. Tell your mom that the other movie is terrible."

"She'll hit me with a pillow or something if I do."

"So?" Gray stared at Erza's straight expression for a moment before laughing.

"You wouldn't care, would you?" She shook her head. Gray hesitated for a moment, but then threw his nervousness to the wind and put his arm around her. "You're so funny."

Erza blushed slightly but smiled anyway. "I'm serious, you know. No one should have to watch that movie, ever. Get rid of it right away."

"I get it, I get it! Your wish is my command, Captain Erza." To Gray's pleasant surprise, she giggled softly. A bright smile came to his face after having seen that.

"They're so cute together," Lucy gushed. While Gray and Erza had been having their moment, Lucy and Natsu had stopped arguing over chicken long enough to notice what their friends were up to.

"I don't think they're that cute," Natsu said dismissively.

"If they aren't cute, what is?" Lucy asked, whacking him lightly on the shoulder.

"Happy is cute," Natsu replied. "Happy and you." Lucy's face flushed; she couldn't believe that Natsu had just called her cute. He had added it as a bit of an afterthought, but it still felt nice. Or at least it felt nice until Natsu said, "Hey, Luce, can I have my chicken now?"

After another three movies – all of which were comedies – the entire group was tired. Lucy was wandering around gathering her things, Natsu was sticking his head in the refrigerator as normal, Erza was snoozing on the couch, and Gray was poking her, trying to wake her up.

"Guys," Gray said as he was beginning to get worried. "She's not waking up. What do I do?"

"Leave her," Natsu replied, but his mouth was full of food, so it sounded more like "Leef fur."

"That's my food you're eating! And we can't just leave her!" Even though Gray was yelling, Erza didn't even stir.

"It's fine," Lucy said before yawning loudly. "She'll be fine. We're leaving, okay?"

"She's probably the kind to be really cranky when she wakes up, so watch out!" Natsu advised as he walked toward the door. Gray just gaped at them.

"You're leaving me alone with Erza?!" he asked incredulously. "While she's _sleeping_?!"

"What?" Lucy asked playfully. "Can't handle it?"

"Sometimes I really hate you, Lucy Heartfilia."

Lucy smiled before heading out the door with Natsu. They got on his motorcycle and drove off, leaving Gray all alone with Erza, who was still showing no signs of waking up. Gray sighed and walked back to the couch. He looked down at his red-haired crush, who was sleeping very peacefully. He pushed a piece of hair out of her face, but she still didn't move at all.

"What a heavy sleeper," Gray said, chuckling to himself. "She's really pretty when she's sleeping." He walked to the closet where the linen was kept and pulled out a big blanket fit for the January weather. He brought it back to the couch and placed it carefully over Erza.

He sighed once more, thinking about how silly it all was. Here he was, liking the girl he had previously hated so much. And there she was, knocked out on his couch.

"Goodnight, Erza," he said with a yawn before going to bed.

* * *

I'm starting to get why singers and stuff are so grateful to their fans. I'm very grateful to my reviewers and followers! Almost at 300 reviews and over 100 follows and favorites! WOW! I love you all! *heart* *sparkle* *love*

LaynieCakes – Yes, there will be Lyvia! I love Lyvia, like a lot. xD And I had such a lovely time in Haiti!

theformulaofpudding – I need to get around to reading that one-shot collection of yours. I read a few, but then I looked up and there were like 50 of them! Haha! It used to be so hard to find GrayZa stories.

Raikiri80 – I started liking GrayZa when I saw them in the FT theme song and though they looked good together. Then as the series went on, I thought that they were really compatible and cute, so I became my OTP! :D

DiamondRainbows – LOL xD I'm sorry! They'll get there eventually!

– Oh, glaring contests are the best. They're always fun to write about!

peonychan99 – Gray and Erza are seriously the cutest ever! I'm glad you like the story! J

passwordrawr – I really like your penname. It makes me smile. If you wanna learn Japanese, go for it! I'm self-taught, and I'm not fantastic, but I've learned a whole lot. J

claudeath17 – Yep. Gray needs to not be weak!

LoveMadness – Thank you! J

IcedSoulFairy – I'm convinced that no family is normal. Mine certainly isn't, haha! Thanks a lot! :D

Y – Angel Beats so kills. I got sick once and marathon-watched it. It was awesome and painful at the same time, haha.

Guest – Thanks, dear!

Milliana-chan – I do ship Lyon and Juvia (in case it wasn't obvious) because the ship is just way too funny to pass up!

InsigniaOfFairyTail – Haha! I'm glad you liked it that much! xD

pinkkoala213 – The Pokemon Special manga is really good! I've read a couple more volumes and I still love Blue to pieces. He's just… Idk. I just love him, haha. :D

fairytail – I will certainly continue updating! I drop off the face of the earth for a while, but I love this way too much to quit. J

Medelie – Wow! Thanks a lot for sharing! :D

Osseo Fan 48127 – I love you. You know why? You made me realize a mistake I made, so I came up with a backstory to cover it up! xD

KaUiA – Thanks! A lot of people don't think of the Gray and Erza couple right away, but I really like it.

ursaminor1996 – I feel so special! xD Thanks a lot! :D

XxxHypocritexxX – My new buddy! Hi! xD Thanks for reviewing so much, hehe! :D

Nadine.Q – I'm not sure how many chapters there will be, but we're still in the middle of the story! Haha xD

Clovergirl100 – Ah, hearing that someone likes how I write Natsu is a big relief because even though he is my favorite character, I find him to be very hard

P.S. This chapter by itself is over 4000 words. That's really long for me! Wow!


	21. Lucy, Levy, and Lisanna, Queens of Clubs

*weeps profusely*

I'M SO SORRY, OKAY?  
JUST ENJOY THE CHAPTER.  
I LOVE YOU.

- RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Twenty-One: Lucy, Levy, and Lisanna, Queens of Clubs

Erza opened her eyes and stared at the ceiling for a good two minutes before she realized that it wasn't her ceiling.

Upon this realization, she nearly jumped out of bed. But then, she realized that she was not on a bed, but a couch! And this was not her apartment, but Gray's house!

She did all she could to keep herself from screaming.

Delicately, Erza got up off the couch and looked around the room. She didn't see anything important of hers; she must have left all her belongings in her purse. It was sitting in a chair across the room, and Erza tip-toed over to the chair to get it. She was quietly making her way to the door when she heard, "You're awake!"

Slowly, she turned to face Gray. "Yes." However, her eyes grew wide as she noticed a few very important details: Gray was not wearing a shirt, he looked wet, and he had a towel slung over his shoulder. Erza felt her face flush bright red as she screamed.

"Put a shirt on!" She turned away to hide herself from Gray and to hide her blushing face from him.

Gray looked at himself before yelling, "Oh, my gosh! I'm so sorry!" He ran to his room to put a shirt on while Erza just stood there, lost in her thoughts.

"_Why, oh, WHY is he good-looking?"_ She had never admitted it to herself before, but she supposed there was a first time for everything. For the first time since she had come to Magnolia, Erza was admitting that a guy – not a movie star or a singer or a professional athlete, but a guy she knew – was good-looking! _"The last time I thought this way about someone was with… Jellal…" _But it made no sense! She had never cared _before_ if he were wearing a shirt or not.

"Erza, do you want me to take you home?" She turned around again, and Gray was wearing a shirt this time.

"No, thanks!" she said. She was not sure she could endure a whole car ride with him after having just admitted to herself that he was attractive. "You take me home a lot, so…"

"I really don't mind!" he added, stepping closer. "I mean, I'm not a cab driver, but I really don't mind taking you home. I'll go get my keys and–" Gray stopped when he felt a small pressure on his chest and looked down to see Erza's hand stopping him from coming any closer.

"No, thanks," she whispered.

He tried not to get too embarrassed. "Okay."

Erza walked all the way home from Gray's house that day. She wasn't sure how long it took her to do so, but it seemed worth it. Her heart felt heavy from the memories of Jellal, but if she was going to live on like he told her to, she couldn't spend the rest of her life hung up on her broken heart. She thought she could have, but recently, her heart had been getting confused.

"You just _had_ to ruin it, didn't you, Gray Fullbuster?" she mumbled to herself.

At the start of the new semester, Lucy had decided on joining the planning committee for the school's cultural festival. The responsibility for Magnolia University's biggest annual event fell on the freshman class each year, and Lucy had been looking for opportunities to get more involved in school, anyway.

The committee's first task was to pick a theme for the festival, or a culture to feature. The meeting had provided no consensus, but a few ideas were suggested. After most of the committee had left, Lucy and her new friend Levy stayed behind to go over the suggestions again.

"You work at Fairy Tail, right?" Levy asked. "I go there all the time, but I never see you there."

"Lately, I've been working in the kitchen a lot," Lucy explained, still going over all the ideas for the Culture Festival. "Ever since my boss tried my cooking earlier this month, I've been helping out more and more."

"Ah, okay. Let me see that list." Levy glanced over the piece of paper before saying, "I think we should go with the American culture option."

"Why?" Lucy asked. "Isn't that boring? We already know about American culture."

"But I don't want these cultural festivals to be like the other ones. Lucy, you didn't live near here last year, but I'm sure you've heard the stories. Everybody brings a lot of Mexican food or a lot of Chinese food and calls it a day. Let's do something different this year! We can do stuff that has to do with farming. Hay, corn, plaid, the whole nine yards!" Levy sounded so excited about the American culture idea that Lucy could not help but agree that it sounded fun.

"Alright. I'll vote for that. We can convince the rest of the committee in a couple days."

A few days after the incident at Gray's house, on his way out from school, Gray ran into Erza. He didn't see her most days, seeing that their school was big, and due to their different schedules, they didn't always finish their classes at the same time. However, all their classes were over by four, and Gray knew that Erza was headed to Fairy Tail just like he was, so he ran to catch up to her when he saw her.

Erza had her head down, so she didn't immediately realize that Gray was even there. He noticed this and smiled to himself. "Wonderful weather, isn't it?" he asked in a strange voice. Erza, being forever cautious, jerked her head up to see who the owner of the weird voice was. However, when she saw it was only Gray, she whacked him on the head. Gray laughed loudly and she frowned at him.

"Don't scare me like that," she said, pulling her coat closer to her. It was still so cold every day; Erza didn't think the weather was wonderful at all. She rubbed her hands together until Gray reached over and grabbed them.

"You look like you're suffering," Gray said with a chuckle. He began to rub her hands against his.

"I am!" Erza retorted as she pulled her hands away. "Not everyone's immune to the cold like you are."

"Yep," Gray said with a nod. "Mom used to tell us that we'd have to be able to brave any kind of temperature if we were going to survive in the world. I don't know why she told us that…"

Erza laughed. "You sure have been talking about your mom a lot lately."

He shrugged. "I guess that ever since she came back to live with me, I've been thinking about her a lot more. Before, I still called her a lot and stuff, but I guess she wasn't on my mind as much because she wasn't a part of my everyday life anymore. And now that she is again, I think about her a lot."

Erza brushed her hair from her face and nodded. "It's a good thing. I mean, she's not your real mom, so it's good that she's been a good enough mom to be that important to you." Erza wanted to ask a question, but stopped herself. She wasn't sure how much Gray wanted to let her know about his life, since he knew virtually nothing about hers. She knew that he was a good friend of hers, but they were friends on a different level; they weren't the sort of friends who knew everything about each other and had a deep, old, connection. They were the sort of friends who barely knew anything about each other's likes and dislikes yet still had a connection.

Erza smiled at the thought of having such great friends. She hadn't had any friends when she moved to Magnolia, and even when she wanted to be nice to people, she usually scared them away or didn't know what to do around them. But her new friends had accepted her despite her awkwardness and made it easy for her to spend time with them.

Suddenly, she felt herself being poked in the side. "You're spacing out, Sparks. What's up?"

"I thought you stopped calling me that. And why are you touching me so much? It's weird." Erza saw a glint in Gray's eyes and immediately knew she had said the wrong thing. Soon, Gray's hands were trying to tickle her. Erza squirmed as best she could, but Gray was still winning. The tickling continued until they almost plowed into someone else on the street. After that, Erza began to punch him in the arm mercilessly.

"Ow! Truce! I call truce!" Erza smirked and continued to walk, but Gray quickly linked his arm through hers.

Erza looked at him and smiled. "This is okay," she said as she patted his arm. "I can deal with this."

"So can I." He smiled back down at her and felt that he was on top of the world.

Erza, on the other hand, was still not sure how to feel about Gray. Even though she did not doubt that they were friends, Gray was different from any of her other friends. She didn't blush after close contact with Natsu, for example. She just felt nothing. But with Gray, her brain got all scrambled and her stomach felt tight. _And_ he was good-looking. That certainly did not help her predicament.

So for the time being, she just took a deep breath and dealt with the confusion.

When they got to work, Gray repeatedly banged his head on the wall in the employee room. Natsu wandered his way back there at some point to see Gray damaging himself and said, "Gray! You're doing it wrong! _I'm_ supposed to beat you up, not the wall!" Gray stared at him in a deadpan manner, but Natsu seemed as serious as ever.

Gray gave up on his friend and just slumped against the wall again. "Natsu," he said slowly. "Don't tell anyone, but I am hopelessly in love with Erza."

Natsu blinked twice before saying, "Duh." The two stared at each other for a second. "Do you have any food?"

Gray hit his head on the wall again.

Meanwhile, Lucy was sitting out in the main part of the shop, not working. Instead of working, she was chatting with Lisanna. And she had a plan.

"I'm on the planning committee for our college's Culture Festival. They have it every year. I'm pretty sure you've heard of it."

Lisanna nodded. "Yeah! I've been going with my sister and brother for years."

"Well," Lucy began slowly, getting ready for openly surrendering Natsu to this other girl. "This year, we have a bunch of couple events. The leader of our committee just started dating someone, so she's super excited and wants to have all this couple stuff. And…"

"And?"

"I think this would be a good time for you to get closer to Natsu," Lucy said in a low voice. Lisanna simply stared at her for a good thirty seconds until she began laughing so hard that she was pounding on the table.

"What's so funny?" Lucy demanded. "I'm being serious! You like him, right?"

Lisanna recovered from her laughing fit and leaned forward. "Lucy, I've only known you for a few months and I already _know_ that _you_ are desperately in love with Natsu."

"I am not!" Lucy yelled, waving her hand back and forth. "What makes you think that?"

Lisanna just shrugged. "You're really obvious. And besides, Natsu doesn't like me. I mean, he used to when he was younger, but he doesn't anymore. Plus, I have a boyfriend."

"What?!" Lucy yelled. All this time, she had been thinking that she'd been getting in the way of a slowly-blossoming romance, but it wasn't even there. She knew that Lisanna and Natsu had been close, and had assumed that they would at some point get together. But now, it sounded like all hopes of romance between those two were years behind them.

Lisanna smiled. "Yeah. His name's Bixlow. Weird, right? But he's a real sweetheart, and we've been dating for over a year. He goes to your college." Lucy's mouth was still open in surprise. She couldn't believe this. Lisanna laughed again. "Look, Lucy, I'm pretty nice! So I'll do you a favor."

"What?"

Lisanna smiled. "Ask me anything. I'll tell you everything you want to know about Natsu."

From her conversation with Lisanna, Lucy had learned that Natsu had had extreme motion sickness since he was young and the only transportation he could stand was his motorcycle. There was medicine he could take to help him, but he always forgot to take it. His hair was naturally that weird pink color. His scarf was a special gift and he always wore it. The apparent stupidity was not an act; he was smart, but only in some ways. He was protective of his friends and ended up in many a fight on the playground when he was younger. He cared, but had a strange way of showing it. And most importantly, by the way he acted, he probably liked Lucy, too – or at least that was what Lisanna could tell.

But what would she do now?

* * *

No review replies this time... Because I have a special mission for you, instead! :D

I want to put together a soundtrack for this story, and I want you to help me!

RULE 1: the song has to actually remind you of a point in the story or of a character. It can be any point in the story!

RULE 2: try to stay away from songs with cursing and such. I purposely keep this story clean, so I'd like the soundtrack to reflect that.

RULE 3: the song can be in any language, though English subtitles would be nice for those who understand English (I'd imagine that if you're reading this, you at least understand English a little). If you find a version with English subs, please tell me!

RULE 4: you can submit the songs in review form or you can PM me. Either is fine ^^

Does this sound like fun to you guys? I really want to do this!


	22. Shuffle

WHAT? Rosie's updating more than once at a time?

Yes. This is actually part of why this update took forever OTL

Enjoy!

-RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Twenty-Two: Shuffle

Lucy wobbled as she tried to string the lights in the tree. Despite her hopes, she fell down and braced herself for the impact of hitting the ground, but the impact never came. She opened her eye to find herself in the arms of Natsu, who had a piece of bread sticking out of his mouth. She blushed as he placed her on the ground.

"I came to help out. I need some volunteer hours." He swallowed the bread and smiled. "You got anything for me to do, Luce?"

Lucy was glad he was there. She was usually glad when Natsu was around, but this was particularly good. Magnolia's Cultural Festival was quickly approaching, it being only a few days away. The committee was working hard to decorate, but it was becoming increasingly difficult. The volunteer turnout, Levy had said, was not very good this year. But Natsu came, and as long as he didn't set anything on fire, Lucy supposed he could help.

"Here," she said. "Keep me steady as I put these lights up."

"Sure thing, Luce!" Natsu said happily. He picked her up easily and put her back on the tall stool she had been on before. Lucy was incredibly thankful that she wasn't facing Natsu, because her face was burning with embarrassment.

After all the lights were strung up in the trees, Natsu helped Lucy down. "You know, I feel like it's Christmas and not February with those lights up."

"It'll be really cool when the festival comes," Lucy assured him. "It might not be Christmas, but these lights are pretty."

He shrugged. "Let's go get lunch after this, okay?" That sounded like a good idea. It was a Saturday morning, and Lucy was spending it working. She was sure that by noon, she would have worked up an appetite, so she said yes to Natsu's offer.

Ever since she had finally admitted to herself that she liked Natsu, she was at a loss for what to do about it. She knew she was good friends with Natsu, but he hardly seemed romantic; Lucy wondered if he had ever been in love before. She wondered if he knew anything about girls. Natsu appeared to be oblivious to a lot of things, so it wouldn't have surprised her.

But what could she do about that? If Natsu didn't pay attention to girls, it wasn't as if Lucy could snap and he'd magically notice her in a romantic light. She briefly imagined herself putting on scanty clothing, but doing something bold like that was not up her alley. She'd probably chicken out before she even saw Natsu, and knowing his denseness, he might not even respond.

So she swallowed and said, "Hey, Natsu?"

"Yeah?" he asked. She was shaking, so he grabbed her shoulder. "What's wrong?"

Lucy said the words over and over again in her head, but they still came out like a train wreck. "Thisisanotherdateright?" Natsu stared at her and sighed.

"I know I don't always understand things, but I _really_ didn't get that."

"This is another date, right?" Lucy whispered. She was sure that her face had to be at least the color of Erza's hair, if not redder. To make matters worse, Natsu wasn't even doing anything. He was just standing there with his mouth half open as if he didn't know what to do. And then, in a split second, he was beaming, and he linked his arm through Lucy's.

"Sure! Let's go!" He pulled her off, humming some happy tune and changing the key every thirty seconds.

The next day, Lucy was practically glowing. At work, she radiated happiness, and made Fairy Tail a much pleasanter place to be. Everyone was happy for her, but Gray was more perplexed than anything else. They were working the front counter together, and when things slowed down, he confronted her.

"Something happened."

"Maybe," Lucy hummed. She was looking down and smiling, and it was sort of weird.

"Something with Natsu."

"How do you know?" she asked.

"He's been more annoying than usual."

She giggled. "Well, I was going to tell you at some point, anyway. Natsu and I went on a date yesterday."

Gray nearly felt his eyes pop out of his head. Natsu? Having romantic interaction? Since Gray had known Natsu – which had been more than a few years – plenty of girls had had crushes on him. Sure, he had had that one thing with Lisanna, but other than that, Natsu acted like romance didn't even exist, and instead looked for a friend in everyone. It was one of his distinct qualities, and it was so _strange_ to think that Natsu had gone on a date, especially with someone as nice as Lucy. But it also made sense. Who else would be capable of putting up with Natsu's air-headedness?

Shaking the thoughts out of his head, Gray smiled slyly. "Really? So, you guys are a couple or something now?"

"Just going on a couple dates doesn't mean we're boyfriend and girlfriend, Gray," she said, stacking some cups. "But it means we might be soon." Gray rolled his eyes happily and then, out of the corner of his eye, saw the object of his own affections. Erza was wiping down one of the front windows, and if anyone looked good wiping down windows, she was it. It was getting hard for Gray to even look at her without thinking of how great it would be to hold her hand or kiss her or something sappy like that. He wanted to talk to her all the time and know everything about her, and it was driving him crazy!

He knew he couldn't keep his thoughts to himself for much longer. So he turned back to Lucy and asked, "That festival… When is it, again?"

Erza wrinkled her nose. She had never been a country person, so the smell of the hay bales was unfamiliar. She felt odd standing there in her outfit, which consisted of a red and blue plaid shirt, a black jacket, a pair of jeans, and classic cowboy boots; she had only been doing the sensible thing and dressing to match the theme of the festival, but everyone else was milling around in their regular attire, and it was obvious that no one else had put the same amount of care into their dress as Erza had.

She was worrying about it when she felt an arm wrap around her shoulder. "Hey, Sparks!" There was no question as to who it was. Only one person ever called her that. She sighed, but smiled.

"Hi, Gray." He looked almost as ridiculous as she did. He was wearing regular clothes, save for the ten-gallon hat on his head. He was also holding a giant stuffed bunny under his arms, which was pink, and while totally silly, was unbearably cute. He held it up.

"I won this for you. I didn't want to carry it around all night, so I was just about to go put it in my car. You wanna come? You know, since the surprise is spoiled, now?"

Erza briefly racked her brain to try to remember if she had ever told him how much she loved bunnies. "Sure. Why not?" They started for the exit. Erza had to admit that Lucy and Levy and the rest of that committee had done a fabulous job with the decorating. The lights looked great, the game booths were painted nicely, and even though the hay bales smelled weird, they added a very nice touch to the scene. Everyone was having a good time, too. It was just nice.

They went right back into the festival after putting the bunny in Gray's car. They ate snacks, played games, and just had a good time. Then, the dancing started. Erza was not fond of dancing. She wasn't even that good at it, but Gray begged her to join the numbers of people square-dancing at the center of the festival. Normally, she would have said no to anyone. But ever since she had started looking at Gray differently, saying no to the smile he was giving her had become completely out of the question.

"This will be fun, I promise," Gray told her. "If it's not, you can beat me up."

"And you know I will," she mumbled. But even so, Gray led her down into the crowd, and while it was hard to get the rhythm down at first, Erza was soon dancing happily, grabbing hands and turning with ease. What no one had told her was that square dancing required very little dancing talent – it just required that you pay attention to what was happening around you. Erza used the focus the dance required to take her mind off Gray and his stupid smile and his stupid wonderful hair. It worked well until she had to grab _his_ hand, which was warmer and nicer than all the others for some unknown reason. It was at those moments that all the confusion kept coming back.

"_I'll never understand him,"_ Erza thought to herself. _"I'll never understand this." _She, like her mind, kept twirling and twirling and twirling until she could hardly see straight. When the dance finally stopped, she felt like she was going to fall, until someone grabbed her shoulders.

But it wasn't just someone. Who else would it be?

"Thank you."

"You can repay me by dancing the next song with me," Gray said with a smile. Unlike Erza, who was mostly confused, Gray was thoroughly happy. They were doing the kinds of things people might do on a date. Going on a date did not make them a couple, but like Lucy said, it meant they might be. And the idea of being in a relationship with Erza made him want to sing, and he hated singing.

But if they were going to be in a relationship, he'd have to confess to her at some point.

He took a deep breath in. "Well, here goes nothing."

Fortunately for Gray, the next song was a slow country song, perfect for dancing romantically to. Erza had tried to get out of it, saying she was tired and would dance another song with him, but Gray had no idea when he would get another chance. He did what he had been doing all night and begged her to give in, and surely enough, she did.

He was cautious about putting his hands on her hips because he was so sure that she would punch him. She refrained from punching, however, and just gave him a warning that if his hands moved an inch away from where they were, he would have to answer to her fist for a solid week. It was a very effective threat.

Beyond that, though, the dance started out well. They were swaying slowly amongst the other couples, and while Erza didn't look thrilled, she wasn't upset. Gray had no idea what he would do if she got upset. He had so many thoughts and worries running through his head that at some point he just stopped and stared at her. He felt much more peaceful, and much more confident, and he knew he could do this.

Erza was humming the song to herself when she looked up and saw Gray's face. His eyes were staring at her in the strangest way; his gaze was soft, but it did not falter. Erza tried to remember where she had seen this look on him before, and then she remembered. It was New Year's Day, on the roof, when he had made a joke out of kissing her.

"Gray," she hissed. "This had better not be some dumb joke."

He looked confused, but then he shook his head. "Oh, no. It's not like that at all." Gray continued to stare for a bit, and Erza looked away. It was weird. He was weird. She didn't like it. "I wanted to talk to you about something."

With that gaze and that sentence, Erza could tell exactly where the conversation was going. Her stomach tightened up and she looked at her feet. "Just keep dancing, Gray."

"Erza, I'm serious."

"Gray!" she almost yelled. "No!"

"I really like you," he said despite her protests. "I know you probably don't feel the same about me, but I don't want to have to hide it from you. That day on New Year's…" He lifted up a hand a pushed a strand of hair behind her ear. "I actually did want to kiss you. I still would if you'd let me." But at this time, he realized something was very wrong. Erza was looking down, and her shoulders had grown so tense. She had stopped dancing, too. "Erza?" he whispered.

She looked up with tears in her eyes. "You idiot."

Gray felt his heart break into a thousand little pieces as she ran off the dance floor.

Natsu narrowed his eyes. "You jerk." Gray glared right back at him. The two were at Gray's house after the festival, and Gray had been recounting what had happened when he confessed to Erza. Of course, he left out a few details, but as soon as he mentioned Erza crying and running off, Natsu had become angry.

"I thought maybe you could help me."

"Do you think I know what to do?" Natsu asked, tossing a handful of chips into his mouth. "I mean, apologize or something, but she's still gonna hate you."

"Apologize for what?" Gray asked in exasperation. "I just told her that I like her! I didn't do anything wrong!"

Natsu shrugged. "Well, I dunno. Girls are like that sometimes, though. Like one time, I told Lucy I had something important to tell her. When it was about Happy Hour at Sonic, she got really upset, so I apologized. I don't know why _Happy_ Hour would make anyone upset, but whatever." He shoved more chips in his mouth and Gray was once again amazed by Natsu's preoccupation with food.

Meanwhile, at Lucy's apartment, a similar situation was taking place. Erza was lying face-down on Lucy's bed and mumbling to herself while the blonde looked on, unsure of what to do.

"Erza," Lucy said slowly. "Remind me again why it's so bad that Gray likes you."

"I can't return his feelings."

"You like somebody else?" Lucy asked, tilting her head to the side.

The redhead let out a heavy sigh. "Let's just say that all my life, I've only liked one person. I'm still not over him, I guess. Gray's a good guy, but…"

"Well, this is perfect!"

Erza lifted herself up from Lucy's bed and sat upright. "No, it's not! You really don't get it, Lucy! I don't want a relationship with anyone! And that was going just fine until he decided to like me, and he's complicated everything!" She did not usually sound so emotional, but everything was pouring out of her. Her head hurt from thinking about Gray. Why didn't he make any sense?

Lucy sat thinking for a while. If Erza really didn't like Gray, she could have tossed his feelings to the side and that would have been the end of it. Why was it bothering her so much to have an admirer? Erza didn't mind hurting anyone's feelings; it should have been easy for her, even if it were Gray.

Unless…

"You like him!" Erza made a genuinely confused face as Lucy rambled on. "You like him! At least a little bit! If you didn't care about him, you would have rejected him already. But you care about him enough for it to be hard for you to tell him no!"

Erza looked horrified.

"Erza?" Lucy asked quietly. The redhead just kept the horrified look on her face, grabbed Lucy's blanket, and buried herself in it. After that, she refused to answer any more questions.

* * *

Cliffhanger...?

Don't forget to submit your songs for the soundtrack! *blows kiss*


	23. Cut

If I left you hanging like that, I'd be a really mean author. Here's the rest of my triple update!

Why am I doing a triple update, you might ask? Well, that's because this story almost has **50,000** views! I never thought I'd get so many and I am so thankful to all my readers! I love you~~~~ When I saw that I was getting close, I planned this as a present to thank you! I hope you like it!

Enjoy!  
- RD :)

* * *

13th Street

Chapter Twenty-Three: Cut

Erza had always been stubborn. Everyone knew that. They never expected her not to be. But this? This was a bit much.

The Monday following the festival, Erza had run into Gray at school. She had not talked to him since that night, so Gray had figured she'd be upset with him, but the opposite proved to be true! She ran up to him, slapped him on the shoulder, and talked even more than she usually did. It was strange. The weirdest part was, when asked about Friday, she said she didn't know what Gray was talking about. It was as if she had forced the whole night out of her memories.

And that's what Gray was explaining to Natsu and Lucy.

"Ugh, this can be so hard!" Lucy exclaimed. "I have to give advice to you, and then I have to help Erza, and I'm just stuck in the middle."

"Sorry. I didn't want to put you in a hard position."

"It's alright. I'm rooting for you, anyway," Lucy said. "I think you guys would be adorable!"

"I'm rooting for me," Natsu said. Gray snorted.

"What does that even mean?"

Natsu shrugged. "I dunno." Just as he said that, his phone started buzzing. "Aw, man, Gray, we gotta get to soccer." Gray looked at the time.

"You're right! See ya, Lucy!"

"Bye guys," Lucy said as they ran off. She sighed to herself. Now, what was she going to do about Erza?

Gray found it easy to take out his anger on a soccer ball. The coach praised him for his good performance and asked what had made Gray's kicks so much more powerful. Gray lied and said he wasn't sure.

But what was really bothering him was how foolish he had been. He deeply regretted confessing his feelings to Erza so soon. He should have known that she wouldn't have responded in a _normal_ way – she wouldn't have been Erza if she weren't eccentric – but he didn't foresee her simply ignoring that night. In a way, it was almost worse than her cutting him off entirely, because he still had to see her and know she was blatantly disregarding his feelings.

That was what sent his soccer ball flying into the goal.

Days later, Erza was still acting strange. It was almost as if all her smiles were forced, and her friends caught her staring out into space a lot. They also caught her staring at Gray, but didn't call her out on it. Erza's mind was a steel trap when she wanted it to be, and they knew they wouldn't figure her out. Even Gray, who usually had the easiest time learning what she was thinking, didn't know what to make of her, and he was too frustrated to handle the situation properly. He let his anger sit and grow worse and worse, and his friends were beginning to get concerned.

This led Lucy to confront Erza about the whole issue. It really wasn't her business, but Gray and Erza seemed a bit hopeless on their own, so they needed a little push, which Lucy was more than eager to give.

"You can't just ignore what happened, Erza," Lucy admonished as she sat on the floor in Erza's apartment. "That doesn't make any sense. Gray confessed to you. At least give him the courtesy of a proper 'no'."

"I don't want to tell him 'no'."

"Then tell him yes!"

"I don't know if I like him like that."

"If you don't like him, tell him no. He'll get a little closure that way, and then you can move on from this awkwardness. _I_ think you like him. I always have thought that. But me thinking that won't help Gray. What he needs right now is an answer from _you_."

The thought of confronting Gray about what had happened made Erza's stomach twist. She stared at Lucy helplessly before asking, "Lucy, do you like anybody?"

Lucy turned rather red. "Well, I like Natsu. A lot, actually."

Erza seemed entirely unsurprised. "What do you feel around him?"

"Um, nervous? I feel like I want to be my very best because I want him to see a good person in me. Does that make any sense?" Erza nodded and motioned for Lucy to go on. "Even though there's that pressure, I also feel so happy. Even if he just touches my hand, I feel butterflies in my stomach. Everything he does makes me so happy that it's really worth it to become a better person for him. That's how I feel."

Erza looked down. The feelings sounded so nice. But she knew she wasn't ready to accept those feelings, even if she did have them for Gray. She hadn't realized how long she had been spaced out until Lucy tapped her on the shoulder. "Erza, if you don't mind me asking, you said you have only ever liked one person. What was he like?"

Erza sighed heavily, but she figured if anyone deserved to know her story, it was Lucy, her most patient and faithful friend.

"He was the kind of guy with big dreams and no way to make them happen. Jellal and I were in foster care with a few other kids. Our caretaker, Grandpa Rob, was better than anybody else. He always looked out for us, even though his job didn't make much money and we were pretty poor. We got help from the foster care system, but it was never really enough. We were happy, though." Erza got a wistful look in her eyes and started playing with her fingers.

"Eventually, he decided he would try to make a difference in the country so people like us wouldn't be so bad off. He went to a nearby college to study political science. He was brilliant, so he got tons of scholarships, and we didn't have to worry about him. After he started college, he and I dated. We dated for almost three years. I was four years younger than he was, and I had just started high school at the time, but I really liked him, so it never seemed to matter.

"Then, Grandpa Rob got sick. We had no way to pay his hospital bills, so we all took jobs. Jellal did too. In addition to his schoolwork, he worked two jobs. He was so busy, but he refused to drop any classes. He wanted to graduate as quickly as possible.

"Jellal's studies were draining him like crazy. He hardly spent any time with us anymore, and it was obvious that he was biting off more than he could chew. Simon, another one of us, decided it was best to try to get him to drop at least one class, and they had this fight about it that eventually turned into something about how Jellal believed that by working hard for us, he was doing us a better service than actually being with us. The fight got heated, and Jellal pushed Simon onto the ground. This normally would have been fine, but Simon… he hit his head on our concrete front porch and died that night.

"Jellal got arrested for it, and he's still serving out his time. He told me to forget about him, but I want to hold on to the hope that someday, we could be together again. He's not a bad person. He really does want the best for us."

"Wow," Lucy said quietly, still taking in the entire story. "Erza, I'm so sorry. I never would have imagined that – I mean, I thought my life had been rough. But you? You must be really strong."

"What do I do?" Erza asked after a few minutes of silence.

"Honestly?" Lucy asked. "I'd say go out with Gray. But if you don't want to, you don't have to. It's just…"

"Just what?"

"Is holding on to Jellal helping or hurting you more?"

After her talk with Lucy, Erza had a hard time looking at Gray. He liked her. A lot. Really, he was the ideal type of guy: considerate, good-looking, athletic, fun, smart, and more. And that was why Erza thought he deserved someone who could put her full heart into loving him, not someone who was still hung up on a convict who was arrested over two years ago. She tried to just ignore him until she had time to sort out how she felt in her head.

For Erza, choices had never really been hard. Usually, she saw a good option and a bad option, and that was that. But here, she was stumped. If she dated Gray but couldn't do it properly, wouldn't she hurt him? But wouldn't she also hurt him by rejecting him?

This was too hard.

Erza was thinking about this when she spotted Gray walking across the same courtyard on campus. Of all the times she could have run into him, why now? She kept walking, though. She'd just walk right past him, that's what she'd do.

"Hey," Gray called out. Erza had headphones on, so she pretended not to have heard him, and she stared down at her phone. However, when she walked past Gray, he reached out, grabbed her arm, and used his other hand to take one of the earbuds out of her ear. "I need to talk to you, but I'm busy today," Gray said, not letting go of her arm. "Can we just talk tomorrow?"

Erza narrowed her eyes when she realized that the "tomorrow" he mentioned was none other than February fourteenth, Valentine's Day. She did not want to have a private talk with him when the rest of the world was off having dates, especially when she was so confused about him. "Today," she said firmly.

"But I have to study for–"

"Today or not at all."

Gray sighed and smiled softly. "I'll see you after work, then."

Erza snatched her headphones back and tried to act calm. While she hadn't shown much emotion during the exchange, her mind was racing like it always did around Gray. She just didn't know what to do with him. Would she ever know?

Perhaps, Erza should have agreed to meet with Gray on Valentine's Day. It was only during her shift at Fairy Tail that she realized that she had no idea what she intended to tell him. She's couldn't exactly say, "I think I might like you but my ex-boyfriend is in jail and I still sorta love him," could she?

"What'cha thinking?" Erza jerked up and, in doing so, whacked Natsu in the face with her head. "Ow!" he screamed. "What was that for?"

"For sneaking up on me," Erza said angrily.

Natsu looked as if he were about to fire something back, but his expression softened. "Hey, are you okay? You must have been really zoned out if you didn't hear me and Lucy arguing about her new cake just now."

"What happened to the cake?"

"I ate it."

Erza regretted ever having asked.

"But anyway," Erza said. "I'm fine. I'm just a little stressed out, is all."

"Is it something about school? I'm not very good at school, but Gray is better than me. Maybe he could–"

Before Natsu could even finish his sentence, Erza's arm locked onto his with an iron grip. "Don't say that name."

"What name?" Natsu asked innocently. "Gray?"

"I told you not to say it!"

"I was just checking!" Erza was glaring at Natsu, and that glaring only intensified when he asked, "So, is Gray like 'he-who-shall-not-be-named' now? Because, I mean, Voldemort is a lot scarier than Gray. Oh, I just said his name! I said his name, too! I said both names! Erza, what do I do?"

Erza just stared at Natsu. Even though she had known him for over a year, she had never really gotten used to his eccentricities. In fact, when she thought about it, even thought she had known Natsu for a while, she had only befriended him rather recently. It had taken place sometime after Lucy had shown up, right? But that wasn't just it. Lucy _and_ Gray had brought the four of them together. They were at fault for this hodgepodge friendship.

But, then, Erza thought, she wouldn't have been having such a great year without them.

She sighed. "I guess he did change my life a lot," she mumbled.

"Oh, yeah! He changed my life, too!" Natsu said. "I mean, I didn't even like reading until I read the first one, and then I was hooked! Sometimes I would have these nightmares and I would see his face and it was scary and–" Natsu looked at Erza, who was staring blankly at him again. "Oh, you were talking about Gray, not Voldemort."

As Gray changed out of his work shirt, he took a deep breath. Finally, he was going to confront Erza about what had been bugging him for almost two weeks. He had to talk to her. He found himself thinking about her more and more to the point that he was getting concerned about it. Taking another deep breath, he opened the employee room and expected to find Erza.

But he didn't.

He furrowed his brows. Where was she? She wasn't in the other room. He checked the kitchen, but she wasn't there, either. Was she in the bathroom? He waited for a few minutes, but no one came out of there.

"Hey, Natsu," Gray called out, walking up to his friend. "Have you seen Erza?"

"Oh, her?" Natsu said. "She hurried out of here as soon as she finished her shift. Said something about shopping."

Gray's mouth dropped open. He told her that he needed to talk to her. Where was she? Did she really want to avoid him that badly?

He closed his mouth, setting his lips in a firm line. In that moment, something in him snapped. Erza hadn't even bothered to listen to what he had to say in the first place. That was the last straw.

Erza trudged down 13th Street, wandering aimlessly. There were few other people out on the chilly February night, everyone having ducked into stores to keep warm or traveling in heated cars. Erza wanted to go home, but that wasn't a good idea. Gray knew exactly where she lived. She wasn't ready to face him, and so she just wouldn't.

Could she really get over Jellal and like Gray? Honestly, she even liked the idea of liking Gray instead. He wasn't perfect, but he was caring, sweet, and he genuinely liked her. It was odd to think that she hated him such a short time ago. She couldn't have been within three feet of him without an argument breaking out. Now, they were friends, and on top of all that, he wanted to be something more. But it wasn't like she hadn't tried forgetting about Jellal. It just hadn't exactly worked.

Erza shoved her hands deep into her jacket pockets and let out a long sigh. She was about to wander into a random store when she heard a familiar voice.

"Are you really just gonna run away?" She froze. Erza turned around slowly to see Gray standing behind her, about ten feet away. He looked like a wreck. His hair was messier than usual, his eyes had circles under them, and his shirt was sliding down one shoulder. The lights from the street shone from behind him, almost making him glow. He looked amazing, even if he was disheveled. But the messiness… Had she done that him? It had been a little less than two weeks since the festival, and Gray had already deteriorated to this. Erza had noticed that he had been much more tired lately, but she had blamed it on the start of the soccer season. She hadn't thought Gray had taken what he had said at the festival so seriously. But he must have, since he had obviously been looking for her since she left work.

All those thoughts provided just enough time for Gray to walk up to her and grab her by the forearm. "I thought you were tougher than that, Scarlet." Erza gasped at the touch and the way he addressed her. She couldn't remember the last time he called her by her last name. He used to do it all the time, but at some point, he had exchanged it for her first name, which had felt more personal.

More _right_.

"Are you scared of me?" he asked, stepping closer to her. "You never were. You shouldn't be. Did I do something wrong? Did I make you mad? Did I hurt you? Last time I checked, all I did was fall in love with you, but ever since I told you, you've been running away from me. You even did it today, when you said you'd be there."

He cupped her cheeks in his hands, his eyes scanning her face for some sort of sign. "That's what I wanted to tell you. I love you. There. I said it." Gray leaned closer, and Erza immediately turned her head away. His expression grew dark, and he clenched his jaw as he stepped away from her. "I understand if you don't want me. Just tell me what you _do_ want."

"Why do you want me to tell you?" she asked quietly.

Gray let out a hollow-sounding chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. "Honestly? If you don't say anything, it's not a yes, but it's not a no, either. It gives me hope. I don't want hope if there really is none."

Erza opened her mouth to say something, but then closed it. _"That's why," _she thought. "_That's why Lucy said I needed to give him an answer." _But what was there to tell him? Secretly, Erza didn't want Gray to give up hope just yet, but it wasn't exactly fair if she told him she liked him if she wasn't sure of whether she did or not.

"I didn't know you were serious about it," she said, maintaining her firm expression. She needed to buy time if she was going to think up an answer for him.

Gray looked incredulous. He shook his head and let out something between a scoff and a laugh. He stared straight into her eyes and asked, "Erza Scarlet, when have I ever not been serious about you?" Erza flinched, her stoic façade breaking down. "I used to seriously hate you," Gray continued. "I thought you were a stuck-up know-it-all who bossed us around at work for no good reason. And then you almost got hurt in the cafeteria. And I saw you cry for the first time. After that, I just seriously cared about you. I wanted to protect you from anything you couldn't protect yourself from. I didn't want to see you cry again. I made you cry at the festival, though. Is that why you're mad at me?"

Erza found that her feet had suddenly become much more interesting. How was she supposed to ponder her own feelings when Gray was laying everything he was thinking out in front of her? She could never have hoped to be so open. She almost wished that she could have, because then maybe she'd have known what to do about him.

Gray reached down and took one of Erza's hands in his. "And then, at some point, I realized that I just plain _liked_ you. I wanted to see you all the time. You, who I used to dread seeing, would make my day. After you left me at the festival, it didn't go away. In fact, it got worse. It started going past just "like." I started seriously loving you. I wanted to hold you and kiss you and–" He laughed again. Gray threw his head back and stared at the sky. "I must sound like an idiot. I bet a few months ago, you would have loved to have seen me like this, right? Blatantly begging you for something? Maybe you haven't changed. Maybe I just thought you did, and you're secretly getting some sick pleasure out of watching me go crazy for you. Is that it?"

No matter what he said, Erza wouldn't look at him.

"Tell me!" he demanded, getting louder. "Is this revenge? Are you still hung up about whatever you were always mad at me for a few months ago? Is this about work? Or school? Is it about anything at all? Was _I_ ever anything to you?"

And then, when Erza thought he was going to continue his angry tirade, his voice dropped to a whisper.

"Why won't you say anything?"

Not bothering to look at his broken expression, Erza slipped her hand out of his and turned around. Her mind was racing. All she could hear was Gray's heavy panting from behind her and the sound of her blood pumping through her veins. Her heart was beating incredibly quickly. She didn't know if she had ever been this nervous in her life.

Gray was done. He was about to walk away and try to forget everything, but then Erza finally said something. "I'm going to give you a chance."

"What?" he asked.

"You heard me," she said, turning around to face him. "I'm going to give you a chance." He didn't do anything but blink at her. "When you told me you liked me, I wasn't expecting it. I didn't know what to do, because I'm trying to forget someone else, and I didn't want to be with you half-heartedly." Erza had tried all day to think of suitable words. Now that she had finally stopped trying so hard, the words just poured out of her mouth. "You really deserve better than me, Gray."

Anger flashed in Gray's eyes. "Don't tell me what I do or don't deserve," he snapped.

Erza chose to ignore that. "I'm going to try to like you. That other person… He told me to move on, and I'm thinking it's time I started listening to him. I can't promise you anything, though."

Gray was still looking at her with angry eyes. Erza looked down at her hands. Had she waited too long? He was probably fed up with her. She still hadn't given him a clear answer. What if–

Erza never had to wonder "what if," because Gray lifted her up in the air and spun her around. She let out a surprised gasp, and soon, she was laughing. He put her down and buried his face in her hair. "You are so lucky I love you. I don't know a lot of other guys who would put up with you."

"Hey!" she yelled, smacking his arm.

"See? You hit people. And I love you in spite of that."

"Good." Erza smacked him again and then gave him a punch for good measure.

But in her heart, she knew he was really right.

She was _so_ lucky he loved her.

* * *

YAY! I tried to make Jellal nice here. I don't like him because he's changed so many times over the series. I never know how to write him! Ah!

Anyway, you might have wanted to punch Erza in this chapter. I did, too. But now she and Gray have come to an understanding! I started the next chapter. Hopefully it won't take me 13 months to put it up. *sigh*

P.S. Natsu makes me happy.

P.P.S. Don't forget the soundtrack! I love you!

EDIT: I don't know about you, but my favorite line in this chapter is "Erza Scarlet, when have I ever not been serious about you?" I feel like it sums up the fic perfectly, haha


End file.
